Loves Abyss: Redux
by N7Panda
Summary: Transfer student Scarlet is sent to the prestigious all girls school at Astraea Hill, what adventures await her there, what new friends will she make? will she able to spend the remainder of her time there and have a good time, unless she catches the attention of a certain Étoile. Will Scarlet be able to find love in her new school as well?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So little thing about this story, if you're familiar with my Strawberry panic stories, I had originally made this a year after I finished "The Minx and The Vixen" however, this was going to be a remake of Love's abyss cause I wanted to try to write and present it better but around half way through doing that I decided I didn't want too cause that first story means a lot to me, it was how I started. So instead, I decided to do a "What If" story with Loves Abyss, if you're familiar with my stories then you know the main character for them was Eleanor and she had a best friend named Scarlet and so I decided to make it, a what if she came to Astraea Hill instead of Eleanor, how different would it have been. So anyway, I never planned on posting this story but in the end i wanted too for a few reasons. So anyway, enjoy the what if story I had done long ago.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The New Arrival**

"Mum are you serious!?"

"Yes, we won't be coming back home for at least three years and what better place to send you then that school."

"But why Japan?"

"Scarlet, we've been over this before. It'll be a good experience for you, you get to meet new friends and the school we enrolled you in has everything you love doing." Her mother explained.

"Well what else is there to do besides sports? I mean I can't even bloody do that anymore since they wrecked my leg, as for cooking and other stuff well I suppose it's not like I'm good at anything else, I'm rubbish at everything else!"

Her mother sighed, "Come on baby, don't talk about yourself like that besides they have a pool and you love it don't you?"

"Yeah I do. Not like I got much going for me." Scarlet sat on her bed as her mother Carla stood by the door telling her about her school as all her luggage was already packed in the car and her flight was only a few hours away.

"What did you say the name of the school was? Spica?"

Carla shook her head, "Lulim, it's on a place called Astraea Hill. I was surprised it had two other schools next to it, Miator and Spica."

"Huh, don't think I've heard of something like that."

Carla opened the door, "neither have I, now come on sweetie we got to go." Scarlet stood up with a sigh as she followed her mother to the car where her father Rick was waiting for them.

"Wait don't I need a uniform or something?"

"I believe they told me that they'll have your uniform ready by the time you get there." Carla brushed her own neck length red hair away from her face.

"I guess." Scarlet sat quietly in the car as she read a book on how to speak Japanese as she was doing her best to be ready for when she got there.

Shortly after they made it to the airport and walked inside the terminal as they looked for Scarlet's plane.

"Sooo am I just gonna bloody run to the school when I get there? I mean it's not like you two are coming with me."

Rick chuckled, "Well you're old enough to travel on your own. Seventeen is a reasonable age don't you think?" Scarlet rolled her eyes, "But no, you're not walking. I believe the head sister will be waiting for you and take you to the school which has a dormitory.

"Head sister? Like a nun?"

Carla nodded, "Yeah, I assume she's like a principle equivalent."

"Weird."

"Well get going sweetie or the plane will leave without you."

Scarlet looked at the plane then back at her parents as she embraced them and they all held her lovingly as they would not see her for a while.

"Be careful sweetie, if anything happens call us okay and we'll go right for you to pick you up."

"Yeah…" Scarlet spun on her heel and walked down the hall as her ankle length crimson hair flowed behind her but her parents quickly ran to her and hugged again.

"Aaaw my little girl," Carla hugged her, "We're going to miss you a lot princess." Rick said as he embraced her.

"Me too mum." Scarlet tried to smile but the idea she was going to be away for a few years away from home and her parents was just… strange to her, it frightened her in a way. Though she did try her best to hide it but her eyes gave her away and slowly spun on her heel then walked through the tunnel to board her plane.

* * *

As she sat on her seat inside the plane she looked out the window seeing nothing but clouds and with nothing else to do she continued to read her language book and quietly mouthed some of the words as she tried her best to learn Japanese but struggling horribly.

Shortly after Scarlet nodded off as she finally lulled her head to the side and fell asleep as the plane traveled smoothly to Japan.

She didn't even know how many hours had gone by as she was gently woken up by a flight attendant and was told that they would be landing in a few minutes.

The plane landed safely and next to the tube which allowed the passengers to get off and Scarlet followed behind a few people towards a different place to pick up her luggage which was only one suitcase. She walked along the room till approaching a flight stairs and walked downstairs trying to find the Head Sister her mother told her about.

She could see a lot of people waiting for what she assumed were friends or loved ones as they held up signs for them. Scarlet scanned the room until she saw a tall old woman, dressed in black with a crucifix around her neck and holding a sign that had her name and that was enough to tell her that this woman was the Head Sister her mother told her, Scarlet then walked up to her.

"Hi, um… are you the sister for Astraea."

"Yes, Scarlet Ashfield I presume?" Scarlet nodded, "Pleased to meet you." She shook her hand, "How was the flight, any trouble?"

"Nope, none what so ever."

"That's great to hear, well come along with me." she said sternly, Scarlet could already tell she was a straight to the point kind of person.

She followed the head sister into a car where another woman was waiting for them to drive them to the school.

Scarlet sat quietly in the backseat as she resumed reading her Japanese language book.

"There are rules for you to follow Ms. Ashfield while you stay in the dormitories," The sister spoke which startled Scarlet, "Firstly, no cell phones allowed. If you need to call your family then you may use a phone in my office or at the main desk. Second there is a strict curfew you must follow, you must be inside the dormitory by six-thirty in the afternoon or the gate will shut and you'll stay outside."

"Really? Do students actually stay outside?"

The sister shook her head, "No, there's a button on the side that calls me or anyone near and opens the gate for them but will be punished for breaking curfew. Lastly, everyone is to be in bed by ten and there's three other Sister's that monitor the hall to ensure that everyone is asleep. Follow those rules and everything will be fine Ms. Ashfield, everything else is the usual rules, don't start a fight, and so on and so forth."

"Bloody'ell." Scarlet said under her breath as the rules already annoyed her and was beginning to hate this school she was going too.

"Now then, I don't normally tell students this but regarding school activities and such, the school's president or assistants will inform you about them just in case you want to know, you can ask them."

"Alright." The rest of the drive was nothing but pure silence, though Scarlet didn't mind as she kept reading. She even got a few chapters in her book till the car came to a stop.

"Here's where we get off." The two women stepped out of the car as Scarlet followed behind them and grabbed her luggage from the trunk. She then followed behind them up the long flight of steps on a grassy hill surrounded by beautiful lush green trees.

They neared the top of the steps and Scarlet's heart began to beat faster as she was finally going to see the Strawberry Dorms that was on the pamphlet her mother had shown her. she finally made it up and was amazed to see what was there.

A beautiful surrounding, as trees and grass laid on the sides while the pearl white stone steps lead to the dorms but what had actually caught Scarlet's eyes were all the girls walking around, all dressed in what she knew where their respective uniforms. The white Spica uniform, the black Miator dress to the pink and checkered skirts of Lulim, it was all a sight to behold for her.

As she walked along the stone steps, some of the girls all stopped to look at the new girl. Their eyes were all drawn to Scarlet as she followed behind the sister, though most of them were entranced by her hair and her beauty as many girls had not even seen hair as long as Scarlet's as it gently flowed behind her.

Scarlet felt unnerved having so many eyes on her as she was never the type to like attention. She could already hear the murmurs amongst them, no doubt they were already talking about her and her curiosity made her wonder, what exactly were they talking about?

Finally they made it to the main desk inside the dorms and the head sister talked to one of the younger girls there, she looked like a student who Scarlet could only assume that it was a small job there.

"Your uniform should be in your room Ms. Ashfield, Sister Leliana will show you to your room." The head sister left the other direction as another younger woman walked towards her, just by first glance this woman looked to be too young to be a Sister in this school as her black hair fell nicely down to her back and her face was like it was carved by the gods themselves.

-"Ms. Ashfield right?"- she asked as Scarlet stared at her… having no idea what she just asked as her Japanese wasn't good, "Oh silly me, I forgot," she giggled, her voice was kind and as gentle as a mother, unlike the Head Sister that Scarlet was talking to, "You just came here so you're probably having trouble with the language, well anyway you're Ms. Ashfield right?"

"Yeah that's right."

"Oh don't mind that sour old bat, she's always in a grouchy mood." Leliana chuckled, "That's pretty much her way into scaring the girls into making sure they follow the rules."

"I see." Scarlet walked with her.

"I really don't know why she's the way she is, but I really just believe its because she's just that, a sour old bat."

"I've seen worse." Scarlet replied.

"Oh have you now?" she looked at her, "well you can't do any worse than her, even the other sisters for the Miator and Spica wings of the dorms are all uptight about everything. You can't even tell a joke without them invoking the wrath of the divine or some stuff like that."

Scarlet couldn't help but laugh gently, "Sounds like my grandpa."

"I'd hate to imagine greeting him, just be careful what you say around the old bat."

"Yeah, the ride over was already tense enough." Scarlet said as she sighed.

"Oh don't even get me started, if she even sees you doing something bad. Uuuugh the hour long lectures she gives you into why its wrong and why you shouldn't do it, I mean really, I can cut all that down to thirty seconds… but she just goes on and on, I swear they can turn a ten second warning into a novel if they wanted too." Leliana told her, Scarlet could guess that she must have been through a similar experience.

"I don't even want to picture it, let alone hear it." Scarlet could already imagine the torture that would cause to her.

"Trust me, you don't. well, here we are." They stood on the second floor of the dorms in front of Scarlet's room.

"You know, you're too nice to be a sister, I figured you would be meaner." Scarlet said with a smile.

"Well that's mostly because I know how it is to be nagged and nagged and the girls are stressed enough in school, I don't need to add to it. But I will help when I'm needed or when the girls need a good lecture… but you were complimenting me weren't you, thanks. If you need anything Ms. Ashfield or you just want to talk then don't hesitate to look for me okay." Leliana smiled at her, "Oh that whole dumb rule about cell phones, don't worry about it, just hide it in your room… I do the same with mine." Leliana showed her cellphone to her and slipped it back in her pocket, Scarlet shook her head slightly as she giggled while Leliana left back to her office which was also her room while Scarlet stepped inside her own room to relax for a moment.

* * *

Scarlet sat in her room for a while, laying back on the bed which she found to be very soft… which wasn't what she liked. Scarlet had always preferred firm mattresses over soft ones as she found them more comfortable then soft beds as it was easier for her to sleep.

She sighed as she then sat back up and looked around her room, she was in for a long stay here at Astraea as according to the pamphlet she still had another year to go as she was only a fifth year at the school. What would make this even more painful was that her parents would not be able to visit her as their career as doctors was now demanding them to travel all over to help around other hospitals as they were considered one of the bests in their fields.

But then again… she was always used to being alone, even when she lived in her apartment with her parents they were hardly ever around and spent most of her life alone besides one friend whom she considered a sister and a loving cousin.

She stood up and walked over to her window and took a glance, feeling the cool winds on her face after she lifted the window. She looked beyond the few trees seeing that the whole dorm was surrounded by a forest, and it even further amazed her knowing the whole place, all three schools and everything beyond it was surrounded by a beautiful forest… it was hard to comprehend how big this whole place was.

With a grin on her face, she left her room to go explore for a while seeing as how classes were over for the day or she assumed since they're plenty of girls wandering everywhere. As she walked through the hallways, she could see many girls looking at her, whispering… she assumed it was because of her hair.

She stepped outside as she took in a deep breath and began to walk through the forest, admiring all there was to see because back home she didn't have such a forest to explore.

How long has it been since she walked into the forest… a few minutes, an hour? Scarlet felt like she was walking forever now, and as embarrassing as it was but she was lost.

"What did you step in this time Scar…" Scarlet said quietly, "This sucks…" she would have to find her way out before the moon hits the sky, as she was terrified of the dark… not just because it was dark but because Scarlet actually has a phobia about being in darkness.

She walked past a few bushes and trees, and over a small rock… which she could've sworn she had passed by again, "Oh for the love of… have I been making a circle, twice!?" Scarlet looked around, "I mean how does that even happen?" Scarlet asked to no one but herself.

Scarlet finally just picked a direction and followed it, she was bound to hit something that would show her how to get out.

When she crossed a few trees that's when saw it, a small clearing with a single tree in the middle which was slightly bent while the rest of the trees surrounded it.

"Finally… making some progress." She walked towards it and leaned her back against it as she exhaled… that's when she heard it.

_Crunch crunch_

The sounds of shoes crunching grass, she quickly spun around as she her eyes locked with a girl she'd never seen before. Her enchanting golden eyes bore into her's and Scarlet was entranced as she looked upon her, the girl was beautiful and her silver hair flowed behind her. Upon further glance Scarlet could see that she was a student of Miator, just by seeing her charcoal black dress and the green tie around her neck.

Scarlet quickly shook her thoughts about her and decided to ask her how to get out before the forest was enveloped by the darkness of the night.

"Excuse me, how the bloody hell do I get out of here? I've been lost for while now." She chuckled, but the other girl didn't respond as she kept looking her over.

"You must be the new student we heard about." The silver haired girl finally spoke.

"Yup, how did you know?"

The other girl gave a small smile, "News travels fast in this school." She stepped closer to her, "Your hair is very beautiful, I've never seen hair this long." She gently ran her fingers through Scarlet's crimson red hair, "I don't think my hair even matches your own."

"I uh… thank you." Scarlet felt her cheeks feel hot, and she wasn't even sure why, she just met this woman, she didn't even know her name.

"What's your name?" she asked her.

"Scarlet…" Scarlet took a while to think, "Well I guess it would be Ashfield Scarlet… right?"

The silver haired girl kept her smile, "Yes, don't worry too much about formalities Scarlet. It's easy to learn the language, I'd be happy to help you learn if you want." She stepped a little closer.

"Thanks, but I think I'll do fine." Scarlet didn't know why she couldn't back off as she got closer to her, it was like this woman had her under a spell, "Um… what' s your name?"

"Hanazono Shizuma." She said elegantly, "To answer your other question," she pointed behind her, "Just walk this way and you'll make it back to the dorms."

"Oh thanks, you're a life saver." Scarlet was about to turn around and leave.

"But I mean I wouldn't mind getting to know you, you're new here after all. I'm sure you could use a friend." She heard Shizuma and when Scarlet turned around she felt Shizuma's hands on her shoulders, "I'm sure they'd be no harm in that right?"

Scarlet was frozen, she had no idea how to react to this, she felt Shizuma's soft fingers glide down her face gently, "You are very beautiful Scarlet."

Scarlet was able to snap out of it however when she saw orange glow in the sky which meant the sun was setting and then she gently grabbed Shizuma's hands and gently pushed her off her, "Oi easy there Shizuma, I hardly know you but friends is a good place to start. But thank you for the directions, well I gotta go." She took off in a small jog as she hurried to get out of the forest before the moon would begin to rise.

Shizuma crossed her arms as she watched her leave, and a smirk appeared on her face, "Interesting, no one has actually done something like that before. You appear to be an interesting girl Scarlet, like a beautiful red rose with thorns that no one may touch. This will be fun."

**End Chapter 1**

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**A/N: so I hope you awesome readers enjoyed it, however, on the sad news I have not completed this story, I have only 11 chapters done on it and I will post them all soon. If you all do enjoy this story, then I may go back and try and finish it, but until then I will continue working on my other Sailor Moon story I'm working on, and those following my stories, I do apologize for not updating my Sailor Nova story, I've been dealing with problems and lack of motivation.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Night Falls**

She ran as fast as her legs could take her as she saw the sun just about to vanish over the horizon and soon after the moon would take its place, casting darkness all over the place. Scarlet had no intention of being in the dark, she would die of fright if she was caught in it and didn't want to risk it.

It was always a fear she had, and whenever she found herself surrounded by darkness she just began to panic, her breathing would increase, her heart would begin to pound rapidly and she would be terrified to even move. While most kids outgrow it, Scarlet never did but not through choice, rather something in her past and she couldn't stand being anywhere near it, and as shameful as she felt, she did have a nightlight in her room or sometimes she would leave her small lamp on to sleep.

Fortunately she made it back to the dorms as the gate was closing automatically and other girls were quickly rushing past it. Scarlet quickly walked through the doors as the night was now covering the place but she was safely back inside the nicely lit dorms. With that she caught her breath as the few beads of sweat dripped onto the floor. Once she regained herself, she made her way back up the stairs and towards her room, sadly she had wished to explore more of the place she was in as she only saw the forest and was very interested to see how her school looked along with the other two.

She made it to her room but as she was about to open the door…

"I'm so glad you made back safely."

Scarlet turned her head seeing Shizuma walking towards her.

"Thanks, I wasn't so sure I'd make it in time." Scarlet replied.

"You have a big day tomorrow, you better get some rest." Shizuma smirked.

"That's the plan."

Shizuma smiled, "If you need anything just let me know okay."

"Alright, thanks." Before she left she ran her fingers through Scarlet's hair as she walked away while her hair slipped through her fingers as she walked, _"Hmm… she's a little…weird."_ Scarlet thought to herself.

When she turned her head, she could see all the girls staring at her with wide eyes, while others looked on with a jealous stare… for what she had no idea, perhaps it was having something to do with Shizuma, maybe they wanted that attention she was giving Scarlet but she could only guess and she was sure that wasn't it.

She walked into her room and began to unpack her clothes into the closet in her room, after which she took a shower and even washed her ocean of red hair, changed into her usual clothes to sleep in, pants and a sleeveless. After spending almost an hour brushing her hair and making sure it was nice and neat, she was finally ready for bed.

Once that was done, she turned off the lights to her room and turned on the small lamp on her desk then slipped into bed. It didn't take long after that till she finally went to sleep as the warm glow of the lamp relaxed her.

* * *

Her alarm clock began to beep and as she groaned she slowly lifted herself up from bed, she would always make sure the alarm clock was in a place that would force her to stand up and shut it off, if not she would just go back to sleep. Back home Scarlet would set up her alarm next to her bed so when it would beep she would just turn it off and drift back off to sleep… which made her question why she even set it up in the first place. Except now she kept it on her desk to get her to stand and shut it off since she did have school today.

She opened her closet and grabbed her Lulim uniform, a warm yellow shirt with a pink sweater vest and the pink checkered skirt and began to change into it.

"Ugh… I hate skirts." Scarlet looked herself over in the mirror and opened her closest once more, retrieving her black leggings and wearing them too to cover her exposed legs, "That'll do." she looked herself over and made sure her hair was nice and neat.

With that done she left her room and began to walk down the steps and outside into the fresh morning air, cool winds gently flowing around her.

Since Scarlet didn't know where Lulim was, she began to follow another girl with the Lulim uniform so next time she would know exactly where it was. With nothing else to do then follow the girl, she took out her Japanese language book and resumed reading it while making sure she was still following the girl heading to Lulim, it wasn't like she was hard to spot anyway as she wore red ribbons on the sides of her black hair.

That's when she saw it, the school that she would be attending, Lulim looked a lot prettier then it showed on the pamphlet. The whole school was a mix of white and pink at least on the outside as Scarlet had no idea as to how it would look on the inside but none the less she was eager to see it.

She walked up the steps and through the main doors as she looked around, the tiles were a soft white color and the walls were painted with a warm pink color, while others were yellow.

She peered through class rooms and what she noticed was that the teachers seemed very relaxed, laid back and she wondered if all teachers were like this including the ones from the other schools.

She stopped in her tracks slightly, feeling many eyes on her and as she turned around slightly… boy was she right, a lot of the girls were staring at her and were dazzled by her hair, her beauty and that's when they all crowded around.

-"Amazing! you're hair is so beautiful!"- One girl cried out, -"You're the new girl right!?"- the other said though sadly Scarlet could not understand what they were saying for the most part.

-"May we touch your hair!?"- Another girl said and Scarlet was starting to get a little scared, not knowing how to reply to them or if they would understand her, she began to wonder why her parents sent her here if she didn't even know the language yet.

But before she could say anything to protest, Scarlet heard someone clap their hands.

-"Now now girls, you're scaring her."- she said as Scarlet looked past to see who it was.

-"Chikaru-oneesama!"- one girl cried out as the other girls looked at her, -"I'm sorry, we just wanted to meet her."-

She giggled, -"I'm sure no harm was done, but let's make our new guest feel welcomed. Now off to class girls, we can greet her afterwards."- All girls bowed respectfully and quickly left the hall, leaving Scarlet to finally catch her breath.

-"You must be the new student they told me about."-

Scarlet looked up, seeing that same girl she followed… the girl with the red ribbons on the sides of her hair.

"I uh… I don't really know the language… I'm sorry." Scarlet uttered sadly.

The girl only giggled, "That's no problem at all."

"So you speak English." Scarlet smiled, relived that someone actually spoke English.

"Among three other languages but I'm far from decent in them." She giggled, "I'm Chikaru Minamoto." She extended her hand, "And you're the new the girl they told me to expect right?"

Scarlet shook her hand, "Ay, I just arrived yesterday. I'm Scarlet Ashfield."

Chikaru looked at her hair and part of her was dying to touch it, she even wanted to shriek at seeing so much beautiful hair but she resisted every urge too, "You really live up to your name Scarlet-chan."

Scarlet followed her gaze, seeing her look at her hair, "I guess so," she chuckled, "I've been growing it since I was a little girl."

"Amazing," Chikaru looked at her wrist watch, "I would really love to keep chatting but we must get to class now, but before anything I welcome you to St. Lulim and I hope you have a pleasant time in our school and if there's anything you need then please don't hesitate to look for me, okay."

"You got it."

Chikaru smiled at her and walked off in the other direction while Scarlet followed her slip of paper of directions on where to go for her class. She knew she was in for a long day as she would probably not understand most of what was going to be said in class but she was determined to see it through anyway.

Though perhaps she should've asked Chikaru where her class was…

* * *

Scarlet let out a long exhale as her first day of class finally came to end, she slumped on the desk for a moment before standing up and leaving the class room. She still couldn't get used to all the stares she was getting and it was still as unnerving as ever for her. But she knew it was only because she was the new girl in school that everyone else would stare for a while or want to ask her questions about her or her hair. Even the teacher was very impressed by her ankle length ocean of crimson hair.

On the plus side, Scarlet's first day wasn't too bad. Apart from not knowing the language all that well she still managed to do her work thanks to the teacher helping her translate and understanding what the assignment said.

She walked along the hall, passing by other girls who were leaving or heading someplace else in the school while they all took glances at the new girl.

She turned the hallway catching a glimpse at the girl she had met earlier, she saw Chikaru walking towards a room and going inside.

Curiously she walked toward the door she had just went through and tried to peer inside but the glass was too misty to be able to see inside.

She knocked on the door, -"Come in."- Scarlet only assumed that meant to go inside and she did so and gently closed the door behind her.

Chikaru looked up, "Oh, its you Scarlet-chan. Welcome, please have a seat." She gestured to a seat in front of her.

Scarlet sat down in front of her, "So what are you doing here Scarlet-chan?"

"Well I saw you come in here and I mean classes are over…"

Chikaru giggled, "Ah I see, well that's because every school has after class clubs or sports that we do."

"Really? I had no idea." Scarlet replied, surprised that this school had such a thing when her old school didn't.

"Yup," she smiled, "It's a nice way to distract ourselves and have fun. Unlike Miator or Spica, our clubs accept anyone from different schools and our clubs are more meant for either to have fun or to learn various things we can do at home."

"Amazing, this school has a lot more than I thought it would." Scarlet couldn't believe that Lulim had so much stuff to do after class, maybe there could be something she could be interested in.

"You'd be surprised Scarlet-chan." Chikaru smiled.

"And what club are you in?"

Chikaru kept her warm smile as she chuckled, "Well… I belong to all of them, I'm in charge of all the clubs."

"Bloody'ell!" Scarlet leaned forward on the desk, "Really? Isn't that exhausting?"

"Not at all Scarlet-chan, I have so much fun doing all this that time really just flies by and I have three of the cutest little assistants I could ever ask for." Chikaru said as she put her hands together and giggled, "They should be coming here any minute now, I would so love for you to meet them."

"Sure, I don't mind." Scarlet looked around, "Hey Chikaru."

"Yes Scarlet-chan?" Chikaru went back to work on her sketch book.

"I uh…" Scarlet began, "This is gonna sound dumb but, I don't have a single friend here… and well…" she chuckled.

Chikaru giggled, "Scarlet-chan, you don't have to ask. Of course I'll be your friend, but I thought we already were when we met?"

"I don't usually make friends… at least not on the first time." Scarlet rubbed the back of her neck, "Well…actually I have no friends back home, the only friend I have is back where I come from, we grew up together and she's always been like a sister to me as is my cousin."

"That's really sweet but don't you worry I'll be here for you." Chikaru said, "and I'm glad that I can be your first friend." She placed her hand on top of Scarlet's which was a bit strange at first but she warmed up to it.

Before Scarlet could say something, the door swung open and…

-"CHIKARU-ONEECHAN!"- Scarlet turned around in shock as she saw three girls sprint past her and embraced Chikaru as she laughed warmly as she returned the gesture.

-"I'm so glad to see you girls,"- Chikaru told them, -"How have you girls been?"-

-"We've been doing great Chikaru-oneesama, classes were fun."- the girl with chestnut colored hair spoke, -"Same as usual I'd say."- the girl next to her spoke, she wore her green hair in two buns. The other girl however never spoke a word, she only watched them with a smile and she held a stuffed teddy bear with her.

-"Girls, there's someone I want you to meet, she's the new student we heard about. Now she's still learning the language but we're going to help her while she's here and she could use some friends."- Chikaru smiled as the three girls turned to face Scarlet, "Girls, this is Scarlet."

"Pleased to meet you Scarlet-chan, I'm Remon." She spoke English very fluently as she extended her hand to her, "I'm Kizune, pleased to meet ya!" Kizune spoke up quickly though her accent was thick.

"Kagome," the smaller girl spoke up softly.

"And who's this?" Scarlet asked her as she shook the bears hand.

"Oshibaru."

"Pleased to meet you all."

"Scarlet-chan! Your hair!"- Kizune shouted in excitement and in awe at the sight of Scarlet's hair, "You have really beautiful hair Scarlet-chan." Remon followed up, Scarlet only chuckled.

"Thanks. You girls can touch my hair if you want." The two girls didn't hesitate as they ran their fingers through her soft hair, Kagome only sat back with a smile, And Scarlet looked at Chikaru who clearly wanted to touch her hair as well, "you can touch my hair too Chikaru." She too wasted no time as she stood up and walked behind her to touch her hair.

"Your hair is so soft Scarlet-chan." Kizune said, "Not a single tangle or knot in it, amazing." Remon was truly surprised to not spot a single tangle.

"I'm going to need a brush for your hair Scarlet-chan." Chikaru couldn't hide the excitement in her voice, "Hmm, I can really work with this." she said.

"With what?" Scarlet asked as she turned her head to look at Chikaru, seeing her make a camera with her hands.

"I can dress you up in so many outfits, you'll look so cute and beautiful."

"What?" she chuckled, "You have a costume club or something?"

"Exactly!" Kizune jumped in, "We have a transformation club where we make outfits and wear them, and Chikaru-oneesama makes them."

"You make the costumes Chikaru?" Scarlet asked.

"I don't do it alone of course." Chikaru smiled warmly.

"our Chikaru-oneesama can do it all, she's in charge of so many clubs and she's even the school's president!"

"What!?" Scarlet cried out in surprise, "You're also the school's president?"

Chikaru only nodded her head and as she was about to answer Scarlet's question, the door opened up and when Scarlet turned to look, she saw a tall, slim girl with blonde hair and a single ribbon on the back of her hair and she was dressed in the white spica uniform and made a straight line to Chikaru whom she took in her arms and kissed deeply… leaving the girls stunned... especially Scarlet.

The blonde girl finally noticed the other four girls looking at them, she stopped and cleared her throat as a shade of red appeared on her cheeks.

-"Sorry… I just wanted to see you again Chikaru."

-"No harm done Shion."- Chikaru spoke, -"I want you to meet someone, this is Scarlet-chan, she just arrived yesterday."- Shion turned to see her and smiled.

"Pleased to meet you Scarlet." Shion extended her hand and shook Scarlet's hand.

"Pleased to meet you too, Shion right?" she nodded.

Shion looked at her, "You know what, I'm sure you already heard this a lot but you have amazing hair."

"Yeah, I've been told that… a lot." She laughed, "So you two are dating?"

Chikaru nodded happily, "Yes, she's my girlfriend!" Shion held her hand as she blushed.

"That's wonderful." Scarlet smiled happily at the two of them.

"Well then lets make Scarlet feel welcomed shall we." Chikaru said to all her girls, "So you're from London right?"

Scarlet nodded, "Yeah."

"Really, that's amazing. I've heard so many good things about it." Shion followed up, "Do they really have that giant ferris wheel thing?" Kizune asked.

"Well, where to begin." Scarlet chuckled as she began to answer their questions and the girls all talked about themselves and it made Scarlet feel welcomed to this school, they even played some board games that Chikaru had in the room.

"This is really fun."

"I'm glad you're having a good time Scarlet-chan." Chikaru smiled warmly at her, that's when Scarlet really noticed something about her smile, it was always so loving and caring… she wasn't sure but it made her heart melt every time.

However… something shined in her eye, she looked at the sun that was now setting and Scarlet bolted up right and stood up as she looked out the window.

"Oh no, oh no…"

"Scarlet-chan? What's wrong?" Chikaru asked, "You okay?" Shion asked.

"I-I gotta go back."

"Why?"

"I… I hate the dark." She quickly left the room without giving them time to answer, and as much as she hated to just leave like that, every second counted to get back and once she was outside she began to sprint back to the dorms and only hoped she would make it in time.

As she ran she could already see the light fading and the darkness was now creeping in, she knew she wouldn't make it, there was just no way… the dorms were still far ways off from where she was.

Scarlet was right… she didn't make it.

The dark had now settled in making the school covered by its thick blanket, Scarlet stood in complete darkness, her heart began to race and she began to panic, she didn't know what to do and without even realizing it, her breath was very frantic almost like she was hyperventilating.

Her heart was beating so fast that she thought it was going to burst out of her chest any minute, however in the blink of an eye, a spotlight immediately shined on her, startling her.

She looked past her, seeing lamps start turning on one by one and it kept going, she immediately leaned against the lamppost and tried to calm down, almost on the verge of passing out from fear. Even though there was light, she was still surrounded by darkness and lamppost created a way to go back, she only had to run from light to light as even being in the dark for a few seconds was enough to start making her feel afraid.

So she readied herself as best she could and began to sprint towards the other lamppost, and she made it just fine despite the anxiety and did the same for the other and the one after. She kept going, only resting when she needed too or to calm down.

When she made it to a lamppost, she could see the outline of the dorms… but there was one problem. She could see the lamppost silhouettes but they weren't on, why weren't they on!?

She didn't even know if she could make it, it was still quite a distance from where she was from the last working lamppost. She couldn't do it, she just couldn't do it and she wondered if she would have to spend her night under the light of the lamppost, there was just no way she could make her way through the utter darkness to the dorms, she could see the lights of the dorms just beckoning her.

"Well what do we have here? If it isn't my beautiful rose."

Scarlet turned around, as she was greeted by that girl whose silver hair flowed behind her.

"S-Shizuma? What are you doing here?"

"Out for some fun, guess I forgot about time." she giggled, "But I didn't expect it to be this dark, its barely eight which is strange."

"You're telling me…"

"What are you doing here?" Shizuma asked.

"I… I cant make it."

"What? To the dorms? Oh!" Shizuma said, "Do you mean the gates? Well Sister Leliana could open those for us without anyone knowing."

"What?"

"Yes," Shizuma said with such a charming voice, "We became good friends and whenever I come back and the gates are closed, I call her up and she opens them for me."

Scarlet didn't even smile she just turned her head back to the dorms, "It's not that…"

Shizuma was now puzzled, what could be troubling her rose?

"Then what?"

"I… I'm afraid."

"Afraid?"

Scarlet took a breath, "I'm afraid of the dark…" Shizuma said nothing, "I know… its weird and dumb but I've always been afraid, I cant stand it! I cant be in it for even a second and I start freaking out!" she explained.

"Its not dumb Scarlet." Shizuma said as she stood next to her, "We all have something we're afraid off." Shizuma could see the fear in Scarlet's eyes, she knew she wasn't joking and it made her feel awful for her, having such a fear broke Shizuma's heart. Sure Shizuma didn't know her that well but she could relate to having an extreme fear.

"Tell you what Scarlet, how about we walk together and I'll protect you all the way there." Shizuma offered.

"Are you serious?" Shizuma nodded, "I… okay." Scarlet was willing to try, anything to be able to go back to her room and rest.

Shizuma gently held her hand, feeling the softness of her skin and deep down She was smiling to finally be able to feel her skin against hers. Shizuma crossed the dark first, Scarlet hesitated for a moment till she finally walked through it with Shizuma.

Like Scarlet had said, it hadn't even been twenty seconds into their walk back to the dorms and Scarlet couldn't handle it anymore, something Shizuma immediately took notice off.

"Hey its okay, we're almost there."

Scarlet's heart was beating rapidly, and her breaths were frantic and she then clung onto Shizuma as she held her.

Shizuma smiled as she gently placed her hand around Scarlet's shoulders and walked a little faster to get Scarlet back home. While it made Shizuma feel bad seeing Scarlet suffering like this, she did love that she was holding on to her, and acting this scared made Scarlet more desirable.

Scarlet felt her limbs starting to freeze and wondered just how long she could keep walking, it was like she was being paralyzed slowly.

"We're here Scarlet," Shizuma tapped something on the gate and a small light went off on the wall which gave a warm glow but it was enough to help Scarlet calm down even if it were just a little. But that's when Shizuma saw it, her fear was real, her eyes screamed it and her expression cried out for help… for a moment Shizuma had thought she wasn't that scared or maybe even joking but now she was certain… her fear was beyond more then she knew.

"It's okay Scarlet, we're here." Scarlet slowly let her trembling hands go of Shizuma as she rested up against the wall but they weren't through yet. Shizuma pulled out her phone and punched in the keys, and waited.

-"Ah Leliana—"- Shizuma stopped and giggled, -"Yup, you know me all too well."- Then hung up.

"Okay, she's on her way Scarlet."

"Good…" The small light was helping, little as it was but it was something. Five minutes had gone by when Shizuma noticed a beam of light begin to shine on the gate which was enough to tell her that Sister Leliana was at the gates.

-"Ah there you are Leliana, and here I thought I would have to climb over the gate again."-

Leliana giggled, -"If you had called any minute later then you would have."-

-"Oh?"- Leliana opened the gate, -"And why is that?"- Shizuma asked her as the gate slowly opened.

-"I have to sleep at eight today, I need to wake up very early. Like around four or five and get some stuff sorted out for the school."-

-"I see."- Shizuma turned to Scarlet, -"Leliana, can you shine your light this way please."-

-"Huh?"- she was confused but did so anyway as Scarlet stepped into the beam of light the flashlight was giving, "Ms. Ashfield?" Leliana looked at Shizuma, -"Is something wrong?"-

-"She has nyctophobia."- Shizuma said sorrowfully, feeling bad for Scarlet.

-"Oh my that's awful, and she's outside right now?"- the three began to walk back as Leliana kept her flashlight on Scarlet till they would make it back to the dorms, "What happened Ms. Ashfield? What are you doing outside right now?"

Scarlet looked at the lit ground in front of her, "I was at Lulim, in a club with Chikaru having fun and before I knew it the sun was setting… I didn't make it in time."

"That's awful Ms. Ashfield."

"You can just call me Scarlet, Sister Leliana." They walked inside the brightly lit dorms and a sense of relief began to wash all over Scarlet.

"And you can just call me Leliana." She returned with a smile, "Will you be alright Scarlet?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll just go to my room… it's been a crappy evening." She said.

"I'll go with you Scarlet, just in case." Shizuma offered as she walked beside her and Leliana followed them upstairs as her room was also in the second floor and maybe Shizuma could actually make Scarlet feel better but she wasn't even sure if she could as she never really had such a fear but she was able to relate to some degree but she would see once they made it to Scarlet's room.

**End Chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 Tour of the Place**

The door opened up and Scarlet walked inside her room with Shizuma behind her. Now finally back in her room, she let out a long sigh of relief and sat on her bed.

Shizuma took a seat next to her, "How you feeling Scarlet?"

"A lot freaking better that's for sure." She closed her eyes, "I just can't stand it Shizuma… whenever I'm in the dark I just can't move, I can't think and its horrible."

"I can't imagine what that's like."

"Trust me, you don't want to know how that is." Scarlet laid back down on the bed as Shizuma eyed her body.

Then a knock came at the door as it opened, "Scarlet-chan?" Scarlet looked up seeing Chikaru peeking her head inside the door.

"Chikaru," she sat up, "Heey come on in." she did just that as Shion and her girls followed behind her.

"Are you okay Scarlet-chan? You had us worried, what happened?" Chikaru hugged her.

"She has nyctophobia." Shizuma spoke first as Scarlet sat back down, "And strangely it got really dark out tonight, even before the clock hit eight or nine, so you can imagine what happened next."

Chikaru silently gasped, "Scarlet-chan you should have told us, we could've helped you."

Scarlet nodded, "I'm sorry… I was already freaking out and I wanted to get to the dorms as quick as I could." Chikaru knelt down in front of her.

"It's alright Scarlet-chan, but next time we'll be there to help you okay?" she smiled warmly at her as Scarlet returned the smile with one of her own and a nod.

-"I'm surprised you even helped at all Etolie,"- Shizuma looked at Shion.

-"Shion, not now."- Chikaru gently placed her hand on Shion's shoulder.

-"What are you up too Etolie? Do you want her? is that it?"- Shion kept going.

-"I don't see the harm in helping someone that needed it."- Shizuma replied back, Scarlet could only watch their conversation as she had no idea what they were saying.

-"Sure sure, you want something from her I can tell. You've done that with every pretty girl you've met and you always left them the same way, heartbroken!"- Shion barked at the silver haired girl.

-"Shion!"- Shion flinched as she turned to look at Chikaru, -"Not here, not now. Just let it go."- she said calmly and it seemed to work as Shion calmed down and took a few steps back away from Shizuma.

"Is something wrong?" Scarlet asked.

"No, nothing's wrong Scarlet-chan." Chikaru turned back to her, "Just a little chat about today's meeting that's all."

"Seemed more like an argument."

Chikaru giggled, "Well we have our troubles, see, Shizuma is the schools Etolie, which is a very prestigious title here in school. Two girls are elected to be the entire schools role models as it were, they are loved by all three schools and they attend meetings and decide things with the rest of the school and their voice carries a lot of weight." Chikaru explained, "But Shizuma-sama is not on the best of terms with Shion." She said with a chuckle.

"Wow… I didn't even know the school had such a system." Scarlet was amazed, to think that the girl respected and loved by all three schools was right here, right in front of her, "But wait… you said there was two of them, where's the other girl I don't think I've ever seen her with you Shizuma? Can I meet her?"

Silence.

"Um did I say something bad?" Scarlet asked as the girls were quiet, even the three younger girls in the room didn't say anything.

"Let's talk about that some other time, okay Scarlet-chan." Chikaru said gently as she sat on the bed next to Scarlet, "Are you feeling better Scarlet-chan? After what happened?"

Shizuma politely excused herself and left the room, "Yeeeah I'm fine now… I'm sorry did I say something wrong?"

Chikaru looked at her, "I'll tell you about it some other time okay Scarlet-chan, get some rest." Chikaru stood up and walked towards the door, "Have a good night Scarlet." Shion said as Kizune, Kagome and Remon all cheerfully hugged Scarlet and wished her a good night.

"By the way Scarlet-chan? Do you need an extra lamp or anything else?"

Scarlet smiled, "No thank you, I brought my lamp from home so I think I'm covered."

"Okay then, well have a good rest Scarlet-chan and if you need anything I'm right down the hall. And you really have to let me brush your hair Scarlet-chan." She giggled as Scarlet did just the same.

"Alright, you got it."

Now that she was alone in her room, she stood up and after a good stretch she walked to her bathroom and took a shower.

Once she was done and after an hour of making sure her hair was nice and neat she began to get ready for bed, she turned on her lamp, shut the lights and crawled in bed as she quickly fell asleep as the warm glow of her lamp filled the room.

_A week later…_

-"So have you seen her yet?"- a deep voice asked.

-"Yeah I have, nothing special I'd say."- Another more feminine voice responded, -"Though she has been all the talk in Lulim for a while."-

-"That school would gossip and over exaggerate over anything."-

-"You say that about all the schools."-

-"Ha, and why do you think I do, each school is just a wave of attention seekers and girls trying to be popular."-

The girl sat down as she laughed, -"Funny, we're popular and yet you don't complain."

-"Pfft as if I care but you know as long as we are popular this will be easy for us to get what we want, when we want and not give a damn about anything."-

-"Yeah yeah, I suppose."- She leaned back, -"Do you want to do anything? Like scare the new girl?"-

-"That's child's play, besides we don't even have to do anything, I hear she's afraid of the dark."-

-"Isnt she a little old for that?"- she said.

-"I suppose so, but then again its only a rumor however, I would love to test it out for myself."-

The other girl giggled, -"Are you always so eager to ruin someone Kaname."-

-"Only if she gets in our way Momomi."-

Momomi pulled Kaname to her and kissed her.

-"So what now?" Momomi asked.

-"Not much now, though my priority right now is Amane."-

Momomi sighed, -"Give it a rest Kaname, that's all you think about now a days."-

-"Because I have to beat her Momomi! If you don't want to help then get out of my way!"-

-"What got into you!? I was just saying."-

-"I'm going to beat her Momomi, and you can either stand with me or get out of my way."-

-"Right right, you keep me around anyway."- she smirked, -"Cause we both know you need me here."-

Kaname didn't say anything, she only pulled Momomi to her and kissed her, -"Maybe."- Kaname then walked towards the door.

-"Hmm, now what should I do."- Momomi laid back down on the bed, -"I could go and see the new girl and see what she's all about."- she then thought about that, -"Naah, such a hassle. Guess I'll just go bother Shion."- she then stood up and left her room.

Her alarm began to go off, she turned over and knocked it off her chair as she got comfortable back in her bed. It was a Saturday and she had forgotten to turn off her alarm and this was her first weekend in Astraea Hill and she just wanted to rest.

Scarlet however did get back to sleep… at least for an extra two hours or so she thought as the door to her room opened after the knocks went unanswered.

-"Scarlet-chan?"- Chikaru quickly spotted Scarlet on her bed as her ocean of crimson hair covered her bed, her face and some hung on the edge of the bed.

Chikaru smiled as she would have some brushing to do, -"Scarlet-chan time to wake up."- she picked up the alarm clock from the floor.

"Just…five…more…minutes." Scarlet turned over as she tried to get back to sleep.

-"Scarlet-chan, if you keep acting this adorable I might have to do something about it."- Chikaru then pressed the button on the clock as it began to go off and the noise was driving Scarlet insane.

"Okay okay, I'm up." She rose on all fours then sat down, "bloody'ell Chikaru why—"

-"Ah ah!"- she raised her hand up, -"You have to keep practicing Scarlet-chan."-

Scarlet sighed, -"Why did you wake me up, it's still so early."- she spoke with a decent understandable Japanese, though her accent was still thick.

-"Early? It's already two Scarlet-chan."-

Scarlet looked at her clock confirming it, -"Well… I usually sleep in on the weekends."-

-"Well not today Scarlet-chan, there's so much to show you and I'm sure you have girls that want to see you."- As if on cue, her door opened up again and…

-"SCARLET-CHAN!"- Kizune and Remon both ran inside and jumped on the bed while Kagome calmly walked inside, nearly tackling Scarlet and laughed as they hugged her.

-"morning girls."- Scarlet laughed along with them.

-"Did you have a good sleep Scarlet-chan?"- Kizune asked.

-"Yes I did… of course I would've loved to sleep a little longer."- she glared at Chikaru who giggled when she noticed Scarlet staring at her.

-"Come on Scarlet-chan, let's go get Shion and grab some food."- Chikaru suggested.

-"Alright, let me get dressed first."-

-"Speaking of which, we have to brush your hair Scarlet-chan."- Chikaru said with a grin, -"Yes, that is the best idea ever!"- Kizune followed up cheerfully, -"Then we should brush Scarlet-chan's hair first."- Remon agreed, -"Oshibaru would like to as well."- Kagome said quietly as she waved her bear's hand.

After Scarlet got dressed, the girls did just that, they all brushed her hair just as Shion had walked into her room after having assumed Chikaru would be there.

-"Scarlet? Does it ever bother you having so much hair?"- Shion asked.

-"No, not really."-

-"Cause it would drive me insane having so much hair."- Shion replied, -"Not sure how you can stand it,"- she chuckled, -"I don't mean to offend, its just if it were me I would be so annoyed."-

-"No offense taken, I just really love my hair so it doesn't bother me… but it did take some time getting used to how long it got."- Scarlet said as the girls were finishing up.

-"Well if my Shion had so much hair it would make me really happy."- Chikaru said and Shion only chuckled, -"Well, we're all done. Let's go get some food girls."- Chikaru helped Scarlet to her feet and all the girls finally left the room and walked down the hall.

As the girls walked down the hall, someone was approaching behind them.

-"Tomori-san."-

Shion turned around, as did the other girls, -"Momomi? Good morning."- She said, -"Can I help you?"-

-"No, no need. I actually came to give you this."- The girl called Momomi handed a folder to Shion, -"It's for today's meeting, the sister told us to review it and come to a decision."-

-"Already? I didn't think she would want us to do that so soon."-

-"Typical of that old senile bat, but what can you expect."- Momomi said with no care for her words.

-"I'll look this over then, thank you Momomi."-

Just as Momomi was about to leave, that's when her eye caught something… or someone.

-"You."- Momomi looked at Scarlet, -"So you're the new girl I've been hearing about."-

-"I suppose so,"- she smiled, -"I'm Scarlet."- she extended her hand.

-"Momomi Kiyashiki."- Momomi didn't even acknowledge Scarlet's hand as she pulled it away slowly and awkwardly.

-"Sooo you're like a president or something at Spica?"-

-"Vice president actually, Shion is our school president."- Momomi said as she crossed her arms.

-"I see. Must be tough work I take it?"-

-"More like a bore actually, cant seem to recall how many times I've been bored to death in there. Most times the arguments are so stupid and unnecessary,"- Momomi noticed Shion glare at her, -"But anyway, I'll get going now before Shion starts getting annoyed much to my amusement but she can be such a downer sometimes."- she began to walk away as Scarlet was surprised that she wasn't at all as she thought.

-"Pleasure to meet you Momomi."- Scarlet said to her.

Momomi glanced at her as she walked away, slightly surprised to hear someone say that.

Once Momomi was gone, Shion sighed softly, -"Don't try and be friends with her Scarlet."-

-"Huh? Why not?"-

Shion looked back at her, -"If you didn't notice just now she's not the type to like having friends, she'll just use you for her own ends so keep away from her."-

-"Come on, lets go."- Chikaru gently guided Scarlet back to where they were going.

But was Momomi really as bad as they told her she was, well Scarlet couldn't judge just yet as she didn't even know her other then she wasn't afraid to speak her mind.

Scarlet followed the girls through the building known as the Strawberry Dorms, though she had no idea why it was called that, it's not like they're actual strawberries around the place or any red like color of any kind around it. Though Scarlet was truly surprised to see a café shop in the dorms, it sold various drinks and lunches which amazed her, the building was a lot bigger then it looked to be able to have such a thing. So after the girls ate and chatted they all decided to continue showing Scarlet the place as there was still so much she hasn't seen apart from Lulim and the Strawberry dorms.

They walked along the stone paved walkway as the girls chatted and Kizune, Remon fiddled with Scarlet's hair as they walked while Kagome followed with a small smile.

"So Shi—"

-"Ah ah,"- Chikaru quickly interrupted, -"Scarlet-chan."- she looked at her as Scarlet only sighed which only made Chikaru giggle.

-"So Shion,"- Scarlet began, -"What's the deal with Shizuma?"-

-"What do you mean?"-

-"I mean, is she this friendly to everyone? Like getting in one's personal space friendly?"- Scarlet asked.

-"Ah. So she has her eyes on you then."- Shion replied with slight anger in her voice.

-"What?"-

Chikaru took her turn to answer, -"Well as you may have guessed, Shion and Shizuma aren't exactly friends. Whenever they are in meetings things get out of hand."-

-"I see… but that doesn't really answer my question."- Scarlet slipped her hands in her pocket.

-"The point is, is that she wants you all to herself, she sees you as another pretty girl she has to have. Like a prize or something, heck if I know. Just don't listen to what she says, cause once she has you… well lets just say you'll walk away with a broken heart."-

Scarlet silently gasped, -"I wasn't aware she was that type of person."-

-"She surely doesn't look that way."- Chikaru said, -"But she's very obsessive when it comes to a new girl."- Shion added.

-"Speaking from experience Shion?"- Scarlet asked to which Shion only scoffed.

-"As if. The only reason I know is because I've seen many girls left heartbroken by Shizuma. Miator, Spica, even Lulim. There hasn't been a single girl that hasn't been at least influenced by Shizuma."- Shion's voice began to rise, -"And it's because of that, that she is an unfit Etolie that doesn't care about—"-

-"Shhh, hey its okay Shion."- Chikaru placed her hand on her shoulder, -"Don't fret about this okay."-

"I had no idea you felt so strongly about this."-

Chikaru looked at Scarlet, -"A lot has happened before you arrived Scarlet-chan, so they aren't at the best of terms."-

-"Noted, sorry I asked… I kinda wanted to know… I won't bring that up again."- Scarlet truly didn't want to anger Shion any further.

-"Don't worry Scarlet, I'm not bothered by you asking… I just don't like her."- Shion said.

-"So… who was this other Etolie?"- Scarlet asked.

-"Someone who was a joy to be around with."- Shion quickly said, -"Oh you would have loved her Scarlet-chan, she was so kind and fun."- Chikaru followed up.

Scarlet smiled, -"She sounds like a good person. So what happened? did she move away or something?"-

-"No, sadly her condition left her unable to do a lot of things that she enjoyed… but she was so adorable, and she was a good friend."- Chikaru continued.

-"Condition?"-

Chikaru smile faded, -"She had an illness, we never knew what exactly but we all assume it was a heart condition and… she passed away a year ago."-

-"That's so sad…"- Scarlet was sure she had moved away but hearing this, it just tore her heart even if she didn't know her.

-"She was also Shizuma's girlfriend."- Shion said, words that left Scarlet speechless… she couldn't even begin to fathom what it was like losing someone you loved with all your heart.

-"I've never seen love so pure, at first I wasn't sure but after seeing them spend time together, I knew. Shizuma was truly in love."- Chikaru said, -"But then… the day during the Etolie Election, her condition got worse and she clung onto Shizuma with all her strength as they were named the school's Etolie. They spent a few more weeks together till her body couldn't take it anymore… and she passed away."- Chikaru finished explaining, an explanation that struck Scarlet in her heart as she felt the tears welling up in her eyes, but bit her lip to keep herself from crying.

-"What… What was her name?"- Scarlet asked.

Chikaru looked at her as she said softly, -"Kaori."- Scarlet was heartbroken hearing this story, she imagined herself losing someone that close and she truly wished she didn't as it was the most horrible thing she could feel.

Scarlet wiped the single trailing tear from her eye, -"thanks… for telling me this."- Chikaru nodded as the girls kept walking back to what they were doing.

* * *

A while of walking they showed Scarlet the chapel where girls would gather for important events or where the saintly chorus would come to practice. To the horse track and tennis field that the school had, even the swimming pool which caught Scarlet's attention.

-"And here is the green house."- Shion opened the door as Scarlet walked inside.

-"They own a green house too!"- she took a few steps in, -"Wow, after all I've seen I'm still surprised to see so much."-

-"I'm glad you like it."- Chikaru said with a smile.

-"And we still have something more to show you back at Lulim Scarlet-chan!"- Kizune said cheerfully, -"Oh that's right, I almost forgot about it."- Remon added, -"Oshibaru didn't forget."-

-"I'd recognize that voice anywhere."- they all turned around to see Shizuma walking down the steps, -"If it isn't my beautiful rose."-

-"Rose?"- Scarlet repeated.

-"Your hair is as red as a rose."- Shizuma said.

-"Glad to see you actually doing something Shizuma."- Shion quickly said while Shizuma glared at her, but turned her attention back to Scarlet.

-"So what brings you here Scarlet."- she asked.

-"Oh the girls just showing me around the place."-

-"Why didn't you ask me Scarlet, I could've shown you the whole school."-

Scarlet chuckled, -"That's alright, didn't want to be a bother."-

-"Its no bother at all Scarlet."- Shizuma said gently as she placed her hand on Scarlet's shoulder.

-"Well anyway, come on Scarlet. We have a few more things to do."- Shion gently pulled Scarlet away from Shizuma, something she took notice.

-"So Shion, still so cold towards me."-

-"I wonder why."-

Before more could be said another voice came into play, -"Shizuma!"- a voice which carried weight to it yet there was elegance behind it, a voice that made Shizuma cringe.

Another girl walked down the steps, a girl with a mature look to her and enchanting amber colored eyes along with blue neck length hair, -"You still have work to do, you said you wanted a change of scenery and you'd work."-

Shizuma sighed loudly, the other girl looked at Shion and Chikaru as she nodded but she looked at the girl she'd never seen but heard about.

-"Ah, you're that girl right? The new student for Lulim."-

-"Yeah I am, who might you be?"- Scarlet asked.

-"Miyuki Rokujo. I'd love to stay and talk but right now I have someone that has work to do."- She turned to Shizuma, -"Let's go Shizuma."-

-"Only cause you caught me this time Miyuki."- she walked past her and Miyuki followed behind Shizuma after excusing herself. With that the girls left the green house and headed towards Lulim.

Scarlet took notice that even though it was a Saturday, there were still plenty of girls outside playing or doing some sort of activity.

-"I didn't know Lulim was still teaching class."-

Chikaru giggled, -"They don't, but you can attend club activities all throughout the week if you'd like too."-

-"Really?"- Scarlet asked.

-"Well Lulim is the only school to do that."- Shion answered next, -"Every other school has off on weekends other then important events."-

The girls walked inside Lulim while students all greeted Chikaru, who Scarlet has noticed that she was loved by every student in the school and with good reason, Chikaru was just such a kind and amazing person to be around with, something Scarlet really loved about her.

-"Hey Chikaru?"-

-"Yes Scarlet-chan?"- Chikaru turned to look at Scarlet.

-"How come you never ran for the Etolie position? I figured someone as loving as you would be guaranteed to get in."-

Chikaru giggled, -"I'm glad you think so, but sadly it's a little late for me to run."- she paused slightly with a smile on her face, -"Besides, only two girls from the same school can enter and the girl I love isn't from the same school."-

Scarlet smiled as she saw Shion reach for Chikaru's hand, -"I see."-

However as the girls got distracted by some of the other girls while they played a few games and Chikaru even got Shion to play some that they all failed to notice the moon rising above the sky, bringing its blanket of darkness all around Astraea Hill.

-"Well come on girls, lets go back to the dorms."- Chikaru helped clean up and the girls walked towards the main doors and when they opened them they were surprised to see it was night.

-"Wow… time flew by fast."- Shion looked outside, -"That it did."- Chikaru said and when they turned around they saw Scarlet still by the doors behind the safety of the light.

Chikaru smiled softly as she walked past her and her girls followed behind her.

-"You going to be okay Scarlet?"- Shion asked.

-"I don't know… it's a long way back in the dark."- Scarlet said.

-"No one has gotten around to replacing those bulbs,"- she sighed, -"I'll get that sorted out Scarlet, don't you worry."- Shion said, -"If you want you can hold on to me while we go, I'm sure Chikaru can catch up."-

-"I'd really just be a bother, you have no idea how I get in the dark… it terrifies me."- Scarlet said, -"Just looking at it makes me uneasy."- Just saying that, her skin was crawling.

-"I can't imagine what that's like."- Shion said, though it was hard to relate to Scarlet as she had no actual phobias or fears… the only fear she carried was the fear of losing Chikaru.

Before Scarlet could answer she saw something glow behind her, she turned around as Chikaru, Kizune, Remon and Kagome each carried a lantern which glowed brightly.

-"This will keep you safe Scarlet-chan!"- Kizune said, -"You don't have to worry about those scary shadows anymore! We'll protect you!"- she said ever so cheerfully while Remon rolled her eyes.

-"Oshibaru will help too."- her bear held the lantern in its stuffed paw.

-"What?"- Scarlet looked at them.

-"We wanted to do something to help you Scarlet-chan, in case you were caught in the dark. So we made these lanterns that glow bright."- Chikaru said happily.

-"T-thank you…"- she said, truly touched by their support and she hugged Chikaru and pulled the other girls to her, a hug they all returned.

-"No need to thank us Scarlet-chan, you've become important to us."- Chikaru said and with that they were off after handing Shion another lantern.

The girls had made somewhat of a circle around Scarlet as the glow of the lanterns made her feel safe on the way back to the dorms. Scarlet was amazed at how much they illuminated the surroundings, and the fact that it gave light all around it was just great, it was like a moving sphere of light which kept her calm through the whole way back.

When they made it to the gate, they were surprised to see it closed.

-"So what now?"- Scarlet asked.

-"Do we call Leliana?"- Shion asked.

-"No, I don't want to bother her for that."- Chikaru said, because she really valued Leliana's friendship and didn't want it to seem that's all she wanted.

-"So same thing like last time then?"-

-"Wait, so you two have been out this late too?"- Scarlet asked to which Shion laughed softly.

-"A lot more late then this actually."- Shion walked to the wall and pressed her back to it then helped the small girls up, they placed one foot on Shion's leg and jumped up, using her leg as a support then placed their other foot on Shion's shoulder Kizune crossed over, then Remon and Kagome.

-"Alright Scarlet-chan, your turn."- Chikaru said.

-"Um… I'm heavier then I look."-

Shion chuckled, -"Don't worry, I'm a tough girl."-

-"Well where was that tough girl when there was a spider in the bathroom."- Chikaru said with a smile, -"Hey come on! That spider was big!"- Shion said as Chikaru laughed softly, she cleared her throat, -"Well anyway, come on Scarlet."-

Scarlet however only placed her foot on Shion's leg and jumped up, grabbed the edge, and using her upper body strength she practically vaulted over the wall, leaving the three girls speechless, of course upon landing Scarlet held her voice feeling a sharp intense pain in her leg. Then Chikaru crossed over, followed by Shion who pulled her way up and crossed over.

-"That was amazing Scarlet-chan!"- Kizune nearly shouted, -"It was."- Remon said.

-"That was impressive."- Shion said, -"You exercise a lot?"- she asked.

-"Yeah, back home I was in sports teams and stuff."-

-"Very amazing none the less."- Chikaru followed up and the girls then led Scarlet to the dorms under the glow of their lanterns.

Once inside, the girls turned off the lanterns and Scarlet was under the lights of the dorms as she walked inside.

-"Time for bed girls."- Chikaru told the younger girls and hugged their mother-figure then Shion then Scarlet, -"Good night!"- they said in unison and went upstairs to their room.

-"What are you going to do now Scarlet-chan?"-

-"Probably the same, take a shower and go to bed."- She said, but before that Scarlet hugged Chikaru, -"Thank you so much, again for doing this for me."-

Chikaru wrapped her arms around her as well, -"Of course Scarlet-chan."- Scarlet hugged Shion too who was still not used to being hugged by anyone other than Chikaru but she warmed up to it. The three then walked back upstairs and to their rooms where they got ready for bed or just to fool around for a bit before it got really late.

Momomi walked through the dark hallways as it was well passed late and she had spent her time outside, relaxing after having given some of the other girls trouble, the girls that handled some of the paperwork back at Spica. On the way back she had even caught sight of the new girl, Scarlet, who was being escorted by Chikaru and Shion along with three other girls she didn't know with Lanterns.

Momomi only chuckled, she could say it was a pathetic sight but she reframed from doing so, after all it was a phobia and not being childish about it but on the other hand it was slightly lame or so she thought. This Scarlet was a strange person, she wasn't from this place after all but still… she was strange to her, though she supposed their first meeting wasn't awful as Momomi didn't insult her at all.

She mostly enjoyed giving Shion a hard time, though she wouldn't mind giving Chikaru a hard time too but sadly that was out of the question lest Momomi face the annoyance of Shion. However she could go give Scarlet a hard time but she wondered… what could she even do, its not like she could grab her and force her into someplace dark and leave her there for a while… no, that was low even for Momomi.

Momomi sighed since for once she had no idea what to do to her, so for the time being she would leave her alone. She entered her room seeing Kaname already ready for bed and looking over a few things.

-"Took you long enough, what did you get lost."- Kaname asked in a low tone.

Momomi smirked, -"Oh yes, I got totally lost and I didn't know how to find my way back."- She mocked.

-"Hmm."- She stood up and walked over to the bed and laid down while Momomi got changed for bed too. After that she crawled into bed with Kaname and hugged her, to which Kaname responded by turned over to her side, her back facing Momomi and tried to sleep.

-"So what? You don't want to hold me?"- Momomi asked in a irritated tone.

-"No, it's not that."- Kaname replied.

-"Yeah right."- Momomi turned over, her back facing Kaname and tried to sleep, she then felt Kaname turn her body and felt her arm around Momomi's waist.

-"Was that so hard?"- she asked.

-"You can be so needy."- Kaname teased her.

-"can you blame me."- Momomi turned over to face Kaname with smirk.

-"So have you given any thoughts on what to do about the new girl."- Kaname asked.

-"No, there's really no need."- she replied.

-"what? I thought you wanted too?"- Kaname rose on one arm.

-"Well… I mean its too easy, she's afraid of the dark. There's no real satisfaction doing anything, we can just toss her in the forest with no light and it'll be enough. I mean its not like she's done anything to us."- Momomi said.

-"Maybe not, but that's a good idea should she even do anything to us."-

-"What is she even going to do? its not like she knows us."- Momomi laid back down.

-"She's friends with Tomori is she not, so any funny ideas from her and we'll grab Scarlet."-

-"I guess."- Momomi closed her eyes as she tried to fall asleep which after a few minutes, she succumbed to a peaceful rest and waited for the next day to see what would happen.

**End Chapter 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 Missing Home**

Scarlet sat on her bed as she looked through the pictures in her phone, it's been two weeks since she came to the school and already its taking its toll on her. She longed to see her family and her best friend back home, to go to her favorite restaurant and to do the many things she did back home.

She wasn't used to being confined in a school, she'd never gone to private schools with a dormitory and such, so she wasn't used to this type of lifestyle and she was trying to cope with it as best she could, failing as she was.

She laid back down and wondered how she was going to survive spending the next couple of years in Japan, stuck in Astraea Hill. She wasn't even sure if she'd last another two weeks and she was sure to lose her mind.

Scarlet sighed as she stood up and decided she would go to the library she discovered in the school and see if they had anything that could take her mind off it. she opened the door and left her room.

Scarlet walked along the stone walkway all the way to the library and found the building; it was almost like a castle as it was surrounded by water. She stepped inside, and now that she thought about it this was her first time being inside this place and she had to wonder why it was a little dark in here.

It wasn't terrible for Scarlet as there was a lot of light being shined in through the stained glass windows with beautiful designs. However there was something else that caught her eye, two girls holding each other and kissing each other lovingly, she was surprised and felt like she was in someplace she didn't belong. When she walked to another aisle of books, it was the same, two girls holding each other lovingly while they read a book together.

Was this a meeting grounds of sort for people that were together, Scarlet wasn't sure and now she truly felt out of place as she noticed more girls together in here.

She decided to just turn around and leave as she felt like she didn't belong here and just as she did so she face planted against someone's bosom.

-"well look what we have here."- A smooth, voice rung out.

Scarlet backed away as she saw it was none other than, -"Shizuma?"-

-"What brings you here, Scarlet."-

-"I could ask you that question?"-

Shizuma giggled, -"I was already in here when I saw you walk in. What about yourself."-

-"I was going to look for a book… but I kinda didn't expect this."-

Shizuma then laughed softly, -"Scarlet, No one really comes here to get books."-

-"What?"- she asked, confused by what she meant.

-"This place is a where girls who are in love come too, they spend time together away from people who would otherwise judge them. That's what this place is for."-

-"I… I had no idea."-

-"You're still new here after all,"- Shizuma grinned as she stepped closer to Scarlet, putting her back to the wall, -"But what about you Scarlet, do you have anyone that close to you?"-

Scarlet wasn't sure how to react to this, -"I uh… I… no I don't."-

-"Hmm, that's a real shame,"- she gently slid her finger down Scarlet's face, -"Because you're really beautiful, any girl would be lucky to be with you."-

She got closer to her, -"Uh Shi-Shizuma, what are you doing?"- she asked, as she felt Shizuma's breath on her neck.

-"Don't you like it?"- she asked.

Scarlet felt her gentle and soft hands on her face, but Scarlet finally snapped out of it and gently shoved Shizuma away, -"Sorry, but I gotta go."- she quickly ran out of the library and back out to the paved road as she ran away from there.

-"Ah Scarlet, you make me like you more and more."- Shizuma smiled as she placed her hands on her hips.

* * *

-"Geez what's her deal."- Scarlet took a few deep breaths, -"Was she really… was she really going to kiss me?"- she asked to no one, -"My heart,"- she giggled, -"It's like its going to burst."-

As she walked a sudden gust of wind blew on her but she wasn't paying any mind to it till she heard someone cry out behind her. she turned her head to see her hair all over another girl as she struggled to escape Scarlet's hair.

-"Oh I'm sorry!"- Scarlet moved all her hair away and saw it was a girl dressed in the Miator uniform but she was really cute and she had red hair like her only it was a little shorter and in a pony tail, -"I didn't think anyone was behind me."-

-"It's alright, I just couldn't help but look at your hair, it's so pretty and long."- she rubbed the back of her neck as she giggled, -"That sounded a little weird."-

-"Don't worry, its fine,"- she smiled, -"I'm Scarlet Ashfield."-

She smiled, -"Aoi Nagisa."-

-"Pleased to meet you Nagisa."- she shook her hand as the two walked back to the dorms or rather Nagisa was going to the dorms and Scarlet had somewhere else to go but she would accompany Nagisa.

-"Pleased to meet you too Scarlet-san."-

Scarlet gave a nice smile, -"You don't have to add the 'san' I don't mind if you just call me by my name."-

She nodded, -"Alright. So what were you doing Scarlet-chan?"-

Scarlet sighed, -"I was going to get a book but that library was not what I expected."-

-"So you too."-

Scarlet turned to her as she said, -"I take it you've been there."- Nagisa nodded.

-"I saw so many couples in there, I wasn't so sure I should be there so I grabbed my book and left."

-"I didn't even get to check out a book…"-

-"Eh? Why not?"- Nagisa asked.

-"This girl… I don't know, its like she likes me or something I'm sure of it."- Scarlet said.

-"Who is this girl?"- Nagisa asked.

-"Shizuma."-

-"EEEH!? The Etolie!?"- Nagisa practically shouted, only for Scarlet to hush her despite being the only two there.

-"Yeah… she's been awfully nice to me, among other things. So you know her?"-

-"I met her when I first got here."-

-"Oh, when did you get here?"-

Nagisa thought back, -"Three, four weeks ago."-

-"I see, I've been here for two weeks."-

-"Are you a fourth year?"-

-"Fourth year?"- Scarlet quickly thought back when Chikaru explained the school system to her, -"Oh, no I'm actually a fifth year."-

-"That's nice."-

-"And you?"-

-"Fourth."-

Scarlet smiled as the two kept on walking and getting to know each other, before they knew it they were back at the dorms and after bidding Nagisa farewell, Scarlet went on her way once more with a smile on her face now that she had new friend.

* * *

As Scarlet kept on walking, she began to overhear a commotion near Spica's tracks and courts. She looked towards one of the courts to see a large amount of girls had gathered and were cheering for something. Curiosity got the better of her as she began to make her way over to see what it was about.

She stood behind the girls, on top a small hill and saw two girls playing a tennis match, as to who was playing she didn't know.

-"Well look who stopped by."-

Scarlet turned around to see a girl in the white spica uniform, her chestnut colored hair flowing nicely with two small tails on the back and her caramel colored eyes.

-"Momomi?"-

-"Who else."- she stood next to her.

-"What's going on?"-

-"Are you dense, there's a tennis match."-

Scarlet looked at her slightly, -"I know that, but is there something important going on or what?"-

-"You can say that."-

-"What do you mean?"-

Momomi smirked, -"To keep it simple, a girl told off Kaname then challenged her to a game to beat her,"- she giggled, -"Unfortunately for her, she's losing and poorly."-

-"What happens if she loses?"- Scarlet asked.

-"Well nothing severe, she'll just be the talk for a while and she'll feel embarrassed or at least Kaname is hoping."-

-"Do you play tennis?"- she asked.

-"Of course I play, its been a while for me though."-

-"You must be pretty good then huh."- Momomi looked at her, she was trying to find a hint of sarcasm in her voice but couldn't find any.

-"I suppose."- she replied.

Now that Scarlet could see her, there was just something about her, she was very beautiful and yet she knew nothing about her and wanted to know more but at the same time she felt like she should get away from her.

-"Maybe we should play a game sometime."-

-"You know how to play?"- Momomi asked.

-"I've played a game or two back home."- she replied with a smile.

-"I doubt you could keep up with me."- she smirked once again, -"No one does."-

-"I don't know, none of them were me."- she smirked back to tease her.

Momomi chuckled, -"That confident are we."-

-"Perhaps."-

-"Interesting, though I'd hate to break your spirit Scarlet."-

-"Oh you'll try."- Scarlet shot back as Momomi looked at her while she smiled, it was strange that this girl was actually talking to her unlike most girls who thought they were really popular.

-"Just don't come crying if you lose."- She said only making Scarlet laugh softly.

-"Fair enough, well it was nice talking to you Momomi,"- she placed her hand on her shoulder as she turned around to leave, -"We should hang out or something, it'd be great."-

-"Huh?"- Momomi actually turned her whole body upon hearing that, but Scarlet was already leaving. Did she hear correctly, someone actually wanting to hang out with her and just talk… that was absurd; surely she was just messing with her. perhaps if she knew what kind of person Momomi was then she would understand why it would be unwise to be her friend as she chuckled.

As Scarlet was shrinking into the distance, Kaname had been looking at Scarlet the entire she was talking with Momomi.

Kaname had already won her game in a matter of minutes and walked over to Momomi who seemed to be in a deep thought, -"What was that about?"- she asked.

-"Huh?"- Momomi snapped out of it.

-"I saw her talking to you."- Kaname said with a slight annoyance in her voice.

-"Oh that,"- Momomi chuckled, -"Don't worry your little head Kaname, she was only asking what was going on."-

-"I see."-

Momomi smirked, -"Why are you jealous."-

-"perhaps."- Kaname said.

-"I see."- Momomi giggled, -"Lets head back."-

-"Go on ahead, I still have to berate this loser."- Kaname looked behind to see her opponent ashamed in defeat.

-"Alright."- she shrugged her shoulders as she began to head on over to the dorms.

* * *

That next day Scarlet was going to school although she really didn't feel like it and she knew if she went she would just feel terrible, more than what she was already feeling. While she was walking she saw the chapel and decided she might as well go there and skip class today. She opened the main doors and noticed that no one was inside but the chapel was very clean and free of dust.

They must clean the place regularly; she thought, as she sat down on one of the pews and sighed. The feeling was worse than yesterday when she was feeling awful. She might as well head back to the dorms and lay down, Scarlet was just not doing well.

She stood up but as she did so she noticed that there was still more to the chapel seeing as there was a hallway and curious to see where it led she walked over to it. At the end of the hall was a door, she approached it and slowly turned the knob and opened the door.

She was greeted by the sun, shining brightly and a field of grass with small white flowers adorned all of it. she stepped out, her eyes looking around till…

-"Hey there."-

Scarlet gasped, -"oh sorry, I didn't realize someone was here."- she turned around to leave.

-"Whoa whoa, its okay,"- she giggled, -"No biggie, I'm mostly surprised to see someone else here."-

-"Um who are you?"- Scarlet asked the girl, she pushed herself off the wall, her white spica uniform showed off her curves and she was just as tall as Scarlet perhaps a little taller and her black hair reached her thighs while her amber eyes looked at her.

-"Nanto Yaya."- she extended her hand too her which she shook, and just as Scarlet was about to speak Yaya said, -"Let me guess, you must be Scarlet right?"-

-"You know who I am?"-

-"Yeah, you've been the talk of Astraea for a while. 'The girl with crimson red hair that reaches her ankles,' gotta say, it paints an image in your head and wow, they weren't kidding."- she giggled as looked at Scarlet, -"You really live up to your name don't you."-

Scarlet smiled, -"I've had people tell me that before.'-

-"They wouldn't be wrong even the beautiful part."-

-"What?"- Scarlet shook her head, -"So anyway tell me Yaya, what are you doing here?"-

-"Same thing as you I suppose, skipping class."- Yaya said as she leaned against the wall.

-"Yeah I am, I just don't really feel like going to class."- Scarlet confirmed Yaya's words as she nodded.

-"How come?"-

-"I don't know I just feel like crap, I'm just not used to this. living in a dorm and attending school at the same time, I miss my folks and my best friend, my cousin… I feel a little out of place here… I don't know its strange for me."- Scarlet explained as Yaya nodded slowly.

-"I think you may be homesick. It happens, nothing to be ashamed about Scarlet."- Yaya said as she placed her hand on her shoulder.

-"I guess, it still doesn't change what I feel though."- Scarlet exhaled slowly, -"I think I'm just gonna go back to the dorms and lay down for a bit."-

-"Alright then, well if you ever want to talk then don't hesitate to find me okay."- Yaya smiled.

-"Will do."-

Scarlet took her leave and began to walk back down the stone walkway. Scarlet didn't even make it halfway when she reached the track where the students of spica would hold running events and someone called out to her.

-"Look what we have here, if it isn't Scarlet."-

Scarlet turned her head to see Kaname, and another girl she had defeated, -"I'm surprised to see you here, shouldn't you be at Lulim?"- She asked.

-"Sort of."- Kaname merely chuckled at Scarlet's response.

-"Well since you're here, how about a friendly race."-

Scarlet groaned silently, -"No thanks, maybe another time."-

-"Oh come on Scarlet, where's that spirit."- Kaname said, though she was being awfully cheery… of course Scarlet assumed she was putting up an act, she didn't even look the type to be cheerful, she just gave off that vibe.

-"No."- she began to walk away.

-"Well then, I challenge you Scarlet!"- she shouted as all the girls turned their heads and stared at the two in silence. Scarlet sighed, why did she want to challenge her so badly, did she want to defeat her too and humiliate her or something?

She turned back to look at Kaname, all the girls staring at the two and Momomi who was sitting on a bench observing.

-"Ugh fine!"- Scarlet finally gave in, if only to shut her up. The girls all gasped as Scarlet walked through the crowd and onto the track where Kaname was waiting. She wished she had time to change but she at least had shoes she could run in.

Scarlet tied her hair into a pony tail and got ready warming up as Kaname did the same too, shortly after they got into positions on the track while another girl raised her hand up to signal the race.

She dropped her hand down and yelled, -"GO!"-

The two took off running, they ran as fast as they could and it was intense race right off the bat and Kaname had a advantage of being taller but either way she would pass Scarlet then Scarlet would pass Kaname, a pattern that kept going even onto the midway point of the track. The finish line was coming up and Scarlet knew she had to give it her all or else Kaname would gloat about it and she wasn't going to let that happen. She looked at Kaname who was mere feet away from her and decided to push for a little more and ran harder.

Her legs felt like they were on fire and almost as if they weren't even touching the ground as she was slightly passing Kaname, something she took notice and couldn't believe. Just like that, Scarlet had crossed the finish line before Kaname and came to a halt.

The two panted heavily as they tried to catch their breath and Scarlet just began to walk away as the girls all screamed in surprise, seeing that Kaname had lost. The girls all rushed Kaname, all talking at the same time which was annoying her greatly but she was hiding it well.

Scarlet began to rub her right thigh, she was in a lot of pain, she then began to go over in her head that this wasn't a good idea considering she had injured her leg a long time ago and had a permanent nerve injury. Exerting herself as she did would only cause her leg to burst in pain, sometimes it would even be agonizing and was told by doctors or rather her parents that she shouldn't push herself or do hard running.

While the girls were busy chatting up Kaname over her loss, Scarlet began to leave, hiding her limp as she did so till…

-"That was really impressive, never thought I'd see Kaname get taken down a notch."- she recognized that voice and turned around.

-"Momomi?"-

-"Who else."- she smirked, -"About time someone beats her, it'll keep her grounded for a while. Lord knows she could use it from time to time."-

-"Will it be a problem."-

-"Well not for me, but for you."- Momomi said plainly.

-"ugh,"- she began to walk back as Momomi followed her, -"Has anyone else ever beaten her?"-

-"Just one girl besides you,"- she said, -"Her name is Amane. The one other girl that's beaten her but now she can add you to that list of people she has to beat so… have fun."-

-"Well thanks for the heads up."- she kept walking.

-"Oh by the way Scarlet."-

She stopped in her tracks to listen what she had to say, -"I'll take you up on that offer about hanging out."- she smirked.

-"Really, Great,"- Scarlet smiled, -"When?"-

-"how about this weekend."-

-"Sounds great, see ya then."- Scarlet said cheerfully as she left and Momomi left on her separate way but unknown to them, someone behind a tree was listening to every word they said and swiftly left.

* * *

Scarlet limped her way back to the dorms and painfully went up the stairs all the while a few eyes were on her and wondered what had happened to her. she placed her hand on the wall and used it to support her weight as she walked over to her room.

-"Scarlet-chan!"-

Scarlet turned around and saw Chikaru, rushing towards her with Shion, Yaya, Nagisa in toll and even the three younger girls.

-"Are you alright, what happened!?"- Chikaru wrapped her arm around Scarlet's waist and Scarlet threw her arm over Chikaru's shoulder to support herself, Yaya quickly went up to Scarlet's other side and helped her to her room.

-"Nothing… happened."- she gritted her teeth, the mere pain of even putting any sort of weight on her leg was killer.

-"Scarlet-chan don't lie to me."- Chikaru said as Shion closed the door behind them and sat Scarlet on her bed.

-"I just had a little race…"- Scarlet said.

-"A little race?"- Yaya sat on a chair, -"With who?"-

-"Just a race huh,"- Chikaru helped Scarlet sit against the wall and placed her leg on her lap as slowly performed a soft message on it, -"Goodness… it feels tense."- It was like Chikaru could feel the nerves of her legs harden, -"Who did you race against?"-

-"From what I heard, you raced against Kaname?"- Shion said next as she crossed her arms.

-"Wow, news is already spreading huh."-

-"You raced against Kaname? Whoa…"- Yaya was speechless.

-"Did you win?"- Nagisa asked, -"I hear she's really scary and mean so I hope you won."-

Scarlet exhaled as she leaned her head back, -"Yeah I won… that's why my leg feels like crap."-

-"Did running really make it feel like this?"- Chikaru asked curious to see if that was it.

-"No, my leg was already messed even before I came here,"- Scarlet began, -"I was part of sports team, I believe I mentioned this,"- Chikaru nodded, -"Well to be precise I was part of a basket ball team and this girl on the other team hated my guts ever since the first game we played against each other."- Shion handed her a water bottle she had brought with her, -"So, one game we're playing against them again, and we won but she went nuts. she slams her knee right against my thigh and sucker punches me. while I'm on the floor she rams her knee against my leg over and over and over till they finally get her off me…"-

-"that's so awful Scarlet-chan."- Chikaru held her hand.

-"What a sore loser."- Yaya said, -"No kidding, I'm sorry to hear that Scarlet."- Shion added, -"That's so terrible that someone would do that."- Nagisa said.

-"Scarlet-chan is there anything we can do?"- Kizune asked, -"Yeah, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want too."-

-"Nah it's okay, you girls should know,"- she said as she took a swig of water from the bottle, -"Oh but it doesn't stop there, I was already going to the bus to go home. She comes out at me with a steel pipe and hits me as hard as she could on my leg. She got at least four good shots on my leg while I was down, hell two of her friends held me down as she did that…"-

Chikaru covered her mouth, horrified to hear this just as everyone else in the room was.

-"But luckily for me, there was a policeman who saw the whole thing and arrested her and her friends, but by the time she was done, I had a bruise the size of basket ball on my leg."- Scarlet's expression saddened, -"And that's when my parents looked me over, being doctors and all, they told me that the bone was cracked and muscles were torn and possibly some nerve damage, but the kicker was when they told me that some of that damage was permanent."-

-"Oh my god Scarlet-chan."- Chikaru held her hand, Yaya ran her hand down her head as she couldn't believe what she just heard and Nagisa wiped the single tear off her eye but the other three girls weren't so lucky as they cried and clung onto Scarlet.

-"Yeeeah… so my athletic career is down the drain,"- she said sorrowfully, -"Well if it makes you girls feel better, I can still use my leg and all, I just can't do anything straining or ran really fast and stuff or it'll hurt really bad."-

-"Scarlet-chan, you shouldn't have raced her."- Chikaru said as she wiped her own tear off her eye.

-"Well she didn't take no for an answer."- Scarlet replied, -"Yeah, she's like that."- Shion said.

-"So damn, that really sucks Scarlet, were you thinking about going pro?"- Yaya asked to which Scarlet said.

-"Yeah I was, but that's over now."- Scarlet said, -"nothing I can do about it now?"-

-"What about an operation to fix your leg?"- Nagisa asked, -"Maybe if you had one then you can run again and follow your dreams to play for the big teams and become an awesome player like you always wanted too!"-

Scarlet only smiled, -"I did, that's why I can walk right now."- Scarlet admired that Nagisa didn't want to give up hope, -"They did what they could but the muscle and nerve damage… they just weren't able to fix it."-

-"Scarlet-chan…"- Chikaru was heartbroken hearing that, and at the same time it angered her that one girl was so petty about a game that she harmed Scarlet.

-"Hey don't worry about it Chikaru."- Scarlet chuckled, -"Kaname should be ashamed to have been beaten by a person who can't really use one leg. A feat I may not be able to do again."- she laughed softly, gaining a smile from them, -"So I didn't know you girls knew each other."- She quickly decided to change the morose subject.

Nagisa nodded, -"Yeah we do, I met Yaya on the stair case as I was talking to Hikari-chan who I met thanks to Tamoe-chan."-

-"More like you fell on me on the stair case."- Yaya laughed as Nagisa also laughed bashfully.

-"Well Chikaru already knew Nagisa when she had came to Lulim when she was curious about the clubs."-

-"I see, you're all gonna have to share these stories with me."- Scarlet looked at Chikaru who seemed to be in thought and yet she looked so sad. Scarlet reached over and placed her finger tips on Chikaru's chin and lifted her head to look at her eyes, startling her a bit, -"Hey you okay?"- Scarlet asked sweetly.

Chikaru wiped the tears away, -"I will be."- she just couldn't get that story out of her head, it was horrible to know that such a thing happened to Scarlet and the girl who had ruined her dream, it was just unthinkable that people would do that to another person.

Shion hugged her, -"Hey did you forget why you came here?"- she said softly in her ear, which seemed to spark something in Chikaru.

-"That's right… I almost forgot."-

-"What's that?"-

That wonderful smile slowly returned on Chikaru's face, -"We'll be right back Scarlet-chan."- Shion and the girls left the room with her, leaving Yaya and Nagisa with Scarlet to keep her company.

-"What was that about?"-

Yaya and Nagisa giggled, -"You'll see."- Scarlet leaned against wall with a chuckle and waited to see what was going to happen. After a while, Scarlet laid down as the throbbing in her leg was finally calming down but she did figure that her leg would be sore the following day.

Her door finally opened up and Shion's voice quickly came through, -"Hey Scarlet, don't turn around yet okay."-

-"um okay."- she looked away as she heard the girls come in and began setting stuff up.

-"Okay you can look now Scarlet-chan!"- Kizune said cheerfully and Scarlet did just that and what she saw brought a smile to her face.

-"What is all this?"- she asked as she saw the table with a nice purple table sheet and on it was a silver teapot along with several cups and a plate filled with cookies and other goodies.

-"Yaya-chan told us you were feeling home sick,"- Chikaru said, -"so we all decided to do this for you and make you feel more at home and help you feel better."- she said very sweetly and it warmed Scarlet's heart hearing that.

-"And we brought this too."- Shion set up a portable DVD player and inserted the disk, -"Oh this movie is great, it's about a man who's life gets turned upside down when a zombie attack happens."-

-"Zombies!?"- Nagisa's skin turned a little paler which only make Chikaru giggle.

-"Don't worry Nagisa, this movie is a comedy so its supposed to be funny. Not scary."-

-"And it happens in London."- Scarlet looked at the movie box as she chuckled, -"This'll be fun."- Scarlet felt happy as she sat back and was lucky to have amazing friends who cared for her and she loved them for it, friends she would always hold dear to her.

* * *

Night had finally fallen and a lot of girls in the dorms were already safe in their beds, resting their minds and sleeping peacefully.

However one girl came back to her room and closed the door behind her.

-"Where were you Momomi?"-

Momomi was slightly startled, having expected Kaname to be asleep.

-"Getting something from the café before they closed."- Momomi replied as she began to undress and change into something more comfortable.

-"That so."-

Momomi groaned, -"Okay what happened, I recognize that tone."- Momomi placed her hands on her hips.

-"I just happened to overhear something, and I couldn't believe my ears. That I thought my Momomi wouldn't do something like this unless she planned to hurt someone."-

Momomi crossed her arms, -"Get to the point."-

-"I overheard that you're going to hang out with Scarlet. Now tell me Momomi did I hear right?"- she stood up and walked towards her.

-"No, you heard right,"- Momomi didn't back down, -"So what, now you're spying on me, is that it?."- she chuckled.

-"You never do anything like this Momomi, you never 'hangout' with anyone. What's this about?"- Kaname asked, -"You're not the sort to do this."-

Momomi only shrugged, -"Beats me, just thought I'd humor it. I'm bored as hell. I need a distraction."- she said.

Kaname chuckled, then began to laugh, -"Oh that's just great, you needing to hang out with someone because you're bored!"- she laughed, -"Okay Where's the real Momomi."-

-"Ugh screw you Kaname."- Momomi sat down on the bed.

Kaname then grinned, -"actually Momomi this serves to my advantage."-

-"Huh?"- Momomi looked at her.

-"A prank Momomi, have you forgotten,"- she said, -"I'll have the two girls set up a bucket of disgusting stuff and hang out on a tree, then you lead her under it."-

-"That's a bit stupid isn't it? to obvious."- Momomi replied.

-"oh come on Momomi, if I really wanted to hurt her I would do so, the point of this is just to humiliate her. a smell that will take weeks to come off is a bonus,"- Kaname said, -"Don't be stupid and ruin this Momomi. Well actually no, you're right, she'd see the bucket. I'll prepare a 'sewer' balloon as it were."- she laughed.

Momomi giggled as she laid down on the bed and tried to sleep while Kaname laid next to her and slept too.

-"Don't mess this up Momomi."-

Momomi said nothing as she ignored her and tried to sleep which didn't take long and would see what this whole thing was about with Scarlet.

**End Chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 Lets Hang Out**

The morning was quiet, even outside her room there were no girls walking around or maybe they were and were just being quiet. Scarlet sat up on her bed and swung her legs over the bed and stood up, pain surging through her leg from her race with Kaname yesterday and dropped down back on the bed.

That's when she realized that it was only three in the morning and Scarlet had only slept for four hours which was terrible for her.

The lamps glow was enough to comfort her as she looked out the window, seeing the darkness and the moon above. She looked away and stood up, she stretched as she walked to her door and opened it, seeing nothing but darkness out the hallways and with fear beginning to creep in her mind she closed the door and stayed in her room.

She didn't know what to do, she was wide awake and not even tired which was annoying to her since she was cooped up in her room and this place had a tight curfew. Back home she would've turned on the TV or watched a movie to pass the time till she got drowsy again.

She laid back down on the bed and relaxed, she closed her eyes and waited to fall back asleep or at least till she heard the floorboards creaking outside her door and soft giggling.

Scarlet bolted to her feet and walked to her door, she opened it slowly till the light from her room allowed her to see, -"Chikaru? Shizuma? Shion?"- she saw all three trying to be sneaky.

-"Oh Scarlet-chan? I didn't expect you to be up."- Chikaru said.

Scarlet looked outside, -"You three better come in here, just in case."- the three did so just to be on the safe side ,and they all sat on the bed as they rested for a while before heading back to their rooms.

-"What are you three doing up so late?"-

-"I can ask you the same question my little rose."- Shizuma said playfully, -"Shouldn't you be resting?"-

Scarlet sighed, -"I should be, but I couldn't sleep."- she said, -"I hate when I wake up this late, because I have a tough time going back to sleep."- Scarlet sat on her chair, -"So what are you three doing up so late?"-

-"Well… we were in town having some fun."- Chikaru said, -"Yeah, we usually do that on a Friday but since we couldn't yesterday, we're doing today."-

-"Out in town? How? Isnt that far away from here?"- Scarlet asked.

-"Yes, but I have my driver who takes us and then he brings us back. He's really a nice person."- Shizuma said, -"And just to answer any other question, we usually do this to just have fun and let out some steam. Being school presidents is tough and well… I can't complain about what I do cause I don't really do it but these two deserve some time off."-

-"I see, but what about Miyuki? Don't you take her along?"- Scarlet asked Shizuma to which she only laughed.

-"Miyuki? Doing this sort of stuff? She would have the biggest fit!"- Shizuma chuckled, -"Not only that, but she would be too scared to do it. besides, she would just give me a long boring lecture about it. it's not like school president is tough on her, she loves this type of work."-

Scarlet tilted her head, -"Well just cause she loves it doesn't mean you should leave her out right? Isn't she your friend?"-

-"Very close friends, best friends actually, Miyuki-sama and Shizuma-sama have been friends since they first arrived as first years."- Chikaru said.

-"See, you shouldn't leave her out. It's awful to have your best friend just leave you behind."-

Shizuma smiled softly at her, -"I have tried, she never wants too. She's not the type to break rules, but she used to give me lectures… now she's fine with it, she's okay with me going out. Trust me, I would never leave her out of anything Scarlet."- Shizuma then stood up, -"I'll be back."- she walked inside the bathroom.

Scarlet looked at Shion, -"Shion, I don't mean to sound offensive but I thought you two didn't get along?"-

Shion nodded, -"Well you're not wrong, we don't. But I put up with it for Chikaru's sake because I want them to have a good time and well I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun too."-

-"Thank you Shion."- Chikaru held her hand with a smile.

Scarlet nodded her head with a smile as the door opened up and Shizuma came right back out, -"You know, you should come with us Scarlet. I'm sure you would enjoy it too."-

-"I'd love too but I… well I can't really leave."- she looked out her window as the girls followed her gaze, seeing the darkness outside.

-"That's alright Scarlet-chan, we can walk you through with the lanterns we made."- Chikaru offered.

Scarlet held her hands in protest, -"No no its okay I'd just slow you down and I'll get you girls caught."-

-"Nonsense Scarlet, nothing like that will happen trust us."- Shion said, -"You'd be safe and we'll go and come back without anyone ever noticing we were gone."-

-"Yes, you should totally come with us on the next one Scarlet-chan."- Chikaru smiled at her.

-"Well… okay."- Scarlet replied and before she could follow up, the door opened once more and the girls froze, knowing that the headsister who was usually awake at this hour to check out things was opening the door.

The woman peeked her head in, -"girls?"-

The four of them let out a sigh of relief, -"Leliana, you scared us."- Shizuma said as she walked inside.

-"You girls should be a little more quiet,"- she chuckled, -"I could hear you girls as I was checking the halls. You're lucky that it was me and not the old bat."-

-"Oh my, I didn't realize we were that loud."- Chikaru rubbed the back of her neck.

-"Nah don't worry about it. what are you girls doing up anyway? And why are you three all dressed up?"- Leliana asked.

Shizuma took the turn to answer, -"Oh well we just got back from the city. Having a bit of fun."-

-"Ah I see."- Leliana smiled.

-"Have a seat Leliana."- Scarlet offered as she made space on her bed.

-"thank you."-

Shion turned to Leliana, -"You know something, you should come with us Leliana, I'm sure you'd love it."-

-"Oh no no, that would be wrong of me and I'm sure you girls wouldn't want me cramping your style."- she said with a giggle and a slight red hue on her cheeks.

-"Oh please, you would really love it Leliana."- Chikaru followed up.

-"Yeah come on Leli, you need to unwind a bit and relax, have some fun."- Shizuma said with her ever charming voice.

-"You girls don't think it's weird?"-

-"Of course not Leliana, I think it be fun to see you let your hair down and have fun."- Scarlet said.

-"But my hair is down… oh,"- Leliana chuckled, -"Well… alright I'll go just let me know when."-

-"Great!"- Chikaru cheered but immediately covered her mouth as the girls softly laughed and continued to talk for a while longer. Before long, the clock was already reading six in the morning and the girls were truly surprised by how quick time flew by.

-"Well girls, I believe I'm off to bed."- Leliana stood up, -"Have a good night girls."- she quietly left the room and headed back to her own room to sleep.

-"Yeah she's right,"- Shion stretched and yawn, -"I'm getting really sleepy."-

-"You're not the only one."- Chikaru stretched, -"Let's go so Scarlet can get some rest."- The two stood up hand in hand and opened the door, -"Have a good night Scarlet-chan."- Chikaru said sweetly at her.

-"Goodnight."- Scarlet replied as they closed the door behind them and once they were gone, Scarlet was actually feeling sleepy herself which was a good sign. She placed the lamp shade back on her lamp to give off the warm glow she so loved and felt safe with then crawled back into bed with a deep breath she slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Momomi sighed as she doodled on her assignment, the end of class was already nearing and she was eager to finally get out of class as she could no longer stand the boredom. She wondered about what was going to happen today, she was going to hang out with scarlet… who knows why since she was never fond of doing stuff like that but as she had said before, she was bored.

But there was that other issue, Kaname wanted to humiliate Scarlet and wanted Momomi to do it, Momomi wasn't shy when it came to hurting someone, stuff she had done so easily in the past to Shion, Chikaru and among other people. The only thing she had on her head was, should she do it? In her mind she really wants too but at the same time she didn't feel like, but it is a great way to get some serious amusement off it.

Then finally, class was over and she stood up and began to walk out towards the entrance. Normally she would wait by the entrance for Kaname but this time she was immediately going to go train for her tennis game, leaving Momomi alone and bored so instead she decided to walk towards Lulim.

Momomi was no stranger to the glances and stares from other girls as she walked by them, it was always a strange feeling as most of these girls that stared at her were filled with amazement as most of them were her 'fans' as it were, who knows why really. She didn't even know why they admired her, all she would do was put on a pretty face with Kaname and 'help' the school but that was about it, but that made her popular and she was going to take full advantage of it.

Lulim finally came into view as she kept getting closer and closer to it, nearing the small stairs that lead inside and waited by them. After a few minutes the door opened up and Momomi turned her head…

-"Scarlet, there you are."- she said with a crooked smile.

-"Momomi? Heey wasn't so sure you'd show up."- Scarlet replied with a chuckle.

-"Oh really? Why is that?"- she asked.

-"Well you looked very hesitant when you told me you wanted too."-

Momomi looked at her, -"Well I don't normally do this, no one really asks me to hang out with them."-

-"I cant see why they wouldn't."-

Scarlet said to which Momomi only chuckled, -"I'm sure you'll find out why."- the two began to walk along the stone steps till Momomi suggested going into the forest to a spot she knew off and they did just that as they walked through the grassy fields.

They walked for a while now, neither one had uttered a word because Momomi wasn't even sure what to say to her other than her usual insult but she was going to wait on that and Scarlet was trying to think what Momomi would be interested in talking about.

The two found a nice place to relax, as they sat down on one of the rocks that overlooked the serene lake while a tree provided the most comforting shade.

-"So uh… tell me a little about yourself Momomi."- Scarlet broke the silence.

-"Ha!"- Momomi's voice rang out, -"Why do you want to know?"-

-"Well… just making conversation."-

Momomi smirked but humored her anyway, -"Well lets see, I'm seventeen years old. My parents sent me to spica because I made them hate me, and they thought this place would provide the discipline I need. I hate a lot of things and a lot of people annoy me to the point that I'll make it very clear that I hate them. I don't usually do a lot of things most people do as I find them irritating. Is that enough?"- she finished.

-"Wow, I had no idea."-

-"You see, I told you wouldn't like being with me."- Momomi said and was about to stand up.

-"Why is that though?"-

-"Huh?"-

-"Why do people annoy you? I mean have you ever given them a chance?"- Scarlet asked, -"Surely you can't just hate a person just for hating."-

Momomi stared at her a moment, -"You clearly don't know anything about me, I'm not like most people you know Scarlet. I don't like people getting all clingy or nice or pretending to be my friend or even trying to be, its annoying. Everyone is always the same, stupid, annoying and a complete waste of my time."-

Scarlet thought about it, -"What do you think of me?"-

Momomi was confused, why would she ask that question, it was like she wanted to get hurt by her already and yet…

-"I don't know what to make of you Scarlet,"- she began, -"You're the first person to even ask me to hang out that wasn't some fangirl… its strange."-

-"I see,"- she giggled, -"I usually have that effect on people, no one ever knows what to make of me sometimes."-

-"I wonder why."- Momomi said, -"Though like I said, you're the first one to ask me anything like this."-

Scarlet leaned back a little, -"Well I guess to be fair, you've never let anyone this close to you right?"-

-"Exactly, everyone I ever meet is annoying."-

-"Well lets hope I don't cause that for you."- she giggled, After that Scarlet began to talk a little about her life before Astraea Hill and shared a few stories about her. One story in particular was a time when Scarlet had rigged a small jack o'lantern that would explode and splash water that was colored with red dye to make it look like blood in order to scare a girl at a Halloween party.

-"Really? You actually did that?"-

-"Oh yeah,"- Scarlet said, -"Everyone was so afraid of that they got rid of all jack'olanterns because they thought they were possessed. Funny what a small speaker and the right amount of fake blood can do to scare everyone."-

Momomi uttered a small laugh, -"I see, I'm amazed you even got people to get scared. It must have been really convincing."-

-"More like timing, they had all just finished talking about scary stories."- Scarlet said, though unknown to her Momomi was subtly reaching into her bag and grabbed the balloon filled with a disgusting and smelly substance that Kaname had prepared so she could toss it at Scarlet.

-"Those were good times,"- she leaned back as she stared at the lake, -"Of course everyone hated me for a while for scaring them, but they got over it."- she laughed.

-"You must have made all your friends angry."- Momomi said as she slowly pulled it out.

-"Nah,"- she said, -"To tell you the truth. I never had any friends, not once in my life did I have friends… only one, and that was a girl I practically grew up with. She's always been like a sister to me."-

-"That must be nice."-

-"It is, before I came here I had no one, Not one person I could call a friend but ever since I arrived here I met so many wonderful people. I met Yaya, Shion, Chikaru, Kagome, Kizune, Remon and Nagisa, Leliana, Miyuki and hell even Shizuma,"- she laughed, -"And for the first time, I actually have friends I've never thought it would be so great and I'm happy that I can call you a friend too,"- Momomi silently gasped, surprised by what she had said and stopped moving, -"I mean you actually sat here and listened to me ramble for a while."-

-"I see…"- Momomi was shocked to hear that she was considered a friend, despite not knowing much about her… why? They've only talked for a moment.

Momomi looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was going to set, -"We should start heading back Scarlet."- she stood up.

-"Hmm?"-

-"Sun is setting, aren't you afraid of the dark?"-

-"Yeah I am,"- she stood up, -"Well at least we'll make it in time."- the two began to walk back towards the dorms as they continued to talk, well mostly Scarlet talking.

They made just as the sun set and the gates were starting to close, they stepped inside the dorms and began to walk upstairs before they had to part ways.

-"We should do this again Scarlet."- Momomi said.

-"Really? I wasn't sure you'd be up for it again."-

Momomi smiled, -"it's been… interesting."- She smirked, -"See ya."- She began to walk away.

-"Have a good one Momomi."-

-"Yeah yeah."- she said as she turned the corner and Scarlet began to head towards her own room.

* * *

Momomi walked into her room, finally relieved to be able to lie down for a while but not before taking a nice, hot shower. Once she was done she stepped out of her room to find Kaname already inside.

-"There you are Momomi."- Kaname's ever menacing voice rang out, a voice that Momomi had grown very much used too, -"So did you do it?"- she said straight to the point.

-"Do what?"- Momomi asked, feigning that she didn't know what she was talking about.

-"Don't be dumb Momomi, you know what,"- she stood up, -"Did you humiliate Scarlet? Did you give her a reason to fear you?"-

Momomi stared at her, -"No."-

-"what?"- her response surprised her, -"What do you mean no? why?"-

Momomi crossed her arms as she glared annoyingly at her, -"Simple… I didn't feel like it, so why bother."-

-"You didn't feel like it?"- Kaname chuckled, -"Oh that's priceless, you didn't want too because she's growing on you isn't she?"-

Momomi scoffed, -"Oh please, I could've done it even before we hung out. I just didn't feel like it, she's not worth my time and effort."-

Kaname laughed, -"Oh dear, are you getting soft on me Momomi,"- she placed her hand on Momomi's forehead, -"You're not getting a fever are you?"-

Momomi swatted her hand away, -"Shut up Kaname."- she sat down on their desk that had a mirror and began to brush her chestnut colored hair.

Kaname laughed as she opened the door to their bathroom, -"Sometimes I'll never understand you."- she closed the door.

-"Because if you don't want to do anything, then I'll do it."- Kaname whispered to no one but herself as she grinned a malicious smile.

* * *

Scarlet walked into her room, with a smile on her face as she closed the door behind her and immediately removed her clothes to slip into her more comfortable clothing then threw herself on her bed. With nothing else to do, she ran to her bathroom to shower and wash her hair which always takes a while. Once that was done, she walked back out and neatly brushed her hair till her door opened up.

-"Hello my cute rose."- Shizuma walked into her room, though her eyes were immediately drawn onto Scarlet's body, shorts that showed just a lot of leg and a T-shirt, she was about to comment till she was shoved to the side.

-"Anyway, hi Scarlet. We would've knocked but someone just came in without permission."- Shion stepped inside, -"Well I would've done the same."- Yaya followed up.

-"Girls its rude to just enter without permission."- Chikaru told them gently.

Scarlet giggled, -"It's quite alright."- she said.

Just as Chikaru was about to say something, she noticed that Scarlet's hair was wet and quickly grabbed the brush from her hand and began to brush her long ocean of red hair which only caused Scarlet to laugh softly.

-"Where are the rest of the girls?"- Scarlet asked.

-"Well Kizune, Remon and Kagome are in the cooking club with Nagisa."- Shion answered for her, -"So we just wanted to come visit you."-

-"Aaaand we wanted to invite you."- Yaya quickly jumped in.

-"Invite? Invite to what?"- Scarlet asked.

-"Well next week on Saturday, we're going to the city again to have some fun,"- Chikaru explained, -"And we wanted you to come with us, if you'd like of course."-

-"Yeah come on Scarlet, it'll be fun."- Shizuma said, -"I already asked Leliana and she said yes so come on."-

Scarlet didn't even need to think about it, -"Of course I'll go."- the girls cheered.

-"It's gonna be fun, I promise."- Yaya held her hands.

-"I don't doubt that, I'll look forward to it."- Scarlet said as she enjoyed the brush strokes on her hair.

-"That's what we wanted to tell you and Chikaru also wanted to invite you to something later tonight."- Shizuma sat on the desk.

-"What?"-

-"Well we're going to have a midnight tea party and we want you to be there, everyone is going to come. Nagisa, Kizune, Remon, Kagome, all of us."- Chikaru said with a cheerful voice.

-"Wouldn't miss it for anything."-

-"Great!"- Chikaru cheered, -"Well, I'll be back to get you Scarlet-chan. I'm going to set everything up for tonight."- Chikaru stood up and left her room while Shion followed behind her, Shizuma also left having to attend to another affair though Yaya was the only one who stayed and kept her company. But Scarlet was going to look forward to this tea party, but ironically… Scarlet wasn't a fan of tea.

**End Chapter 5**

* * *

**A/N: so it has been a while hasn't it, well i haven't been around mainly because i finally got a job and it has taken almost all my time now and has affected it me mentally, it's pretty much made me feel a little miserable so i haven't been around to posting this story or working on my Sailor Nova story but bills need to be paid. so i apologize for not posting, but i'll try to finish posting what i have for this story, but anyway. i hope you all enjoyed this chapter and i'll see you on the other.**


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